Megaman X2: Eternal War
by Genoscythe
Summary: When the terrors of the First Maverick Uprising have finally subsided, a new rebellion emerges with three new leaders designed to do one thing: Kill Megaman X. Finished product finally!
1. Prologue

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Megaman X2: Eternal War

By: Genoscythe

Prologue

A.N: This is a recap of sorts for Megaman X2.Actually, this is more of an addition to the original X2. Though the general idea is the same, I changed a few things. Oh hell, I changed a lot of things, but it makes for a better story, doesn't it? Especially compared to the crappy translation in the American version of the game. If you don't like fan-based characters, then don't read this story unless you want to have a heart attack. Or bust a lung, or anything else involving ruptured body parts. 

Why I did this: I mainly wrote this fanfiction because I love writing. I also love the Megaman X games, so I decided to write a 'fic about them. The reason why I chose to write about Megaman X2 was that it was the first Megaman game I ever played. Thus, it has some sentimental value. I also did it because it had little plot and it was something I could work with and improve. Especially with all of the extra scenes I will put in. Trust me, there's a lot of 'em. Also, there are several bios for my fan characters. Please read them or the story will be ruined because you won't know who anyone is. Time for me to shut up now.

Character biographies

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Calliope- I still wonder why there are hardly any women in the X series. Calliope is one of the newer hunters, and was thusly placed in the 17th unit. Over the months at Maverick Hunter H.Q., she has become very affectionate towards X, her fellow teammate, and many people tease her about it. She has dark brown hair, which she streaked to give herself a more powerful and wild appearance. Calliope is very agile and strong, for a woman. She is also incredibly wild and energetic, and likes to tease her fellow hunters. Not much is known about her past, but she knows that her creator was from Greece, and that she inherited her purple armor and twin sabers, Aegis and Minos, from him.

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Genoscythe- the head of the 17th unit of the Maverick Hunters, Genoscythe is a brilliant tactician and skilled fighter. He constantly wears his battle armor, and carries a gigantic beam scythe with him. Many have wondered why he hasn't become a general yet, and he doesn't tell anyone anything about himself. His attitude is constantly changing, one moment, he's aggressive, the next moment, and he's humorous and sarcastic. Most people tend to stay away from him lest they make him mad for some reason or another. 

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Drake- he was one of the first reploids made by Dr. Cain. Basically, he's the green guy that dies in the beginning of X2, if you bothered to play the game. He doesn't die in this fic, but rather serves as some comic relief and alcoholic. He wasn't programmed to be an alcoholic; he just kind of developed into it. He may act rough and indifferent, but his heroic personality shows through from time to time. He used to work with a mercenary band led by the infamous Emilio Rodriguez, but is trying hard to put that past behind him.

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V.R.- Yet _another_ fan-based hunter that I created. He specializes in sniper rifles and other espionage tactics. Oddly, no one knows what V.R. stands for, not even himself. He is undyingly loyal to his superiors, which sometimes unnerves Dr. Cain. He could be comparable to Protoman in looks; he has a shield, a visor and a scarf, but the similarities end there. He has blue and black armor that is thick enough to withstand fire from most weapons.

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Mobius- Mobius is the head of the medical department of the Maverick Hunters. He is a bat-type reploid, and sometimes jokingly tells people he is an 'albino black bat' because of his blood red eyes. After serving in the first maverick war and loosing so many good reploids and humans in the medical bay, it has begun to take a toll on his sanity. His voice sometimes rises and lowers, depending on his mood, and he is very aggressive. X tells him that he should become a hunter, since he is so aggressive, and someday he plans to take his word on it.


	2. Key Terms

Key Terms

Now, before the story, there's a few things of my own that I've added to the Megaman X universe that I couldn't fit an explanation for in the story. These are pretty important to know, especially for later chapters. I highly recommend you take a look.

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Reploid- A new race of Biomechanical androids originally invented by Dr. Thomas Light in the year 2084, and mass-produced by Dr. Richard Cain in the year 2114. They are essentially semi-mechanical androids with the exterior of human beings. They can think, feel, love, hate, and experience all nuances of human living. In short, they are 'replicate androids'. The first known reploid developers were, as follows, Dr. Cain, Dr. Tiberius, Dr. Hartman, and Dr. Zuchav. Since the deaths of Tiberius and Hartman at the hands of their own creations, all reploid development was restricted, save for Dr. Cain's research and Replitech.

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Neo Tokyo Island- At the end of the 12th 'Wily War', which was held at the capitol city of Tokyo, Dr. Albert Wily apparently committed suicide by detonating his fortress. The building's core lay far under the city, deep in the ground, and when it exploded, the force blasted Tokyo and the surrounding area away from the island of Honshu. Somehow, part of the city survived the blast, and they began to rebuild as their own small, independent nation. They adapted well to their predicament, and the city was soon thriving once more. Thus, it was renamed Neo Tokyo.

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Replitech- After Dr. Cain's initial breakthrough in Reploid technology, he found that he couldn't keep up with the demand for new reploids. He decided to fund a company for mass-producing reploids. He chose some of his most trusted assistants to manage the company, and soon reploids began mass-production. Gradually, the Replitech executives pulled farther and farther from Cain's control, and by the start of this story, the company is no longer Dr. Cain's. Without his support, though, Replitech is obligated to use cheaper materials and less effort in building their newer models. Many people fear that this could cause an increase in Maverick attacks.

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Mavericks- A large group of rebellious reploids who find that the human race is inadequate for ruling the Earth. The public has labeled them 'Mavericks', though they call themselves the Purifiers. Led by the rogue hunter Sigma, they have continued to attack humans without relent, and some cases even dictate reploid victims as well…

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ITR (Instant Transit Receptor)- The jewel placed on a Maverick Hunter's helmet. It receives the Instant Transit Projector's signal, and formats the Hunter's body for instant transit, which teleports people and things from place to place in a bright beam of light.

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Outpost Beta- The original Maverick Hunter Headquarters, located within the city of Neo Tokyo. After the first Maverick Rebellion, the head politicians of the city decided that having MHHQ in the city was a danger, because it would be a prime target for maverick attack. Thus, the hunters took the building supplies they needed and set off for a new location. When the hunter population grew, so did the new base. It soon became larger than the original, now called Outpost Beta. Dr. Cain began shipping extra hunters to Outpost Beta as backup in case the city was threatened. The building was partially restored, but still remains small and somewhat obsolete. Outpost Beta only makes a brief appearance in this story, but there will be more of it in later novels.

That's all I can think of for now, but if there's more, then I'll post it.


	3. Chapter 1: The factory

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Megaman X2: Eternal War

By Genoscythe

Chapter 1:The factory

Disc: All Megaman X characters and others relating to Megaman are property of Capcom, not me. However, the fan characters that I made up are mine. MINE! Mine I tells you! If you try to take them without my permission I will come at you with a loaded shotgun. Then after I pump you full of lead, the bowels of hell will open up and consume your tormented soul in the fires of damnation.

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How could this be happening? Megaman X thought as he blasted another mechanoid to scrap. There hadn't been a maverick outbreak in six months, but here he was again, fighting for his life against crazed reploids. Dr. Cain's spies had learned that there was a fully operational factory infected with the maverick virus. It was located in the middle of a desert, so X and his companions had to use ride chasers. Aside from him, there were two other hunters with him, a green hunter named Drake and a purple female huntress named Calliope (See their bios in the prologue). On the way, sentries had spotted them and activated the factory's turbolasers. Calliope and Drake had been hit by the turbolasers. Now, it was solely up to him to destroy the factory, and it wouldn't be easy.

X had just barely squeezed through a trash compactor and lay panting on the floor. He wiped sweat off of his forehead and continued on. He was now on a large maintenance platform poised high above a dark pit. To the left, giant mechanoids lined the wall. Most were incomplete, missing arms, heads and the like. X stopped at one that looked rather finished. On the side of it read: _CF-0: Class C demolition mechanoid. Use extreme caution when handling. _Anyone with three fourths of a brain could tell that it was dangerous. Its long gray arms ended in enormous black balls laden with spikes. Its body looked like a giant magenta oval, with a squat head, arms, and legs. The bottoms of its feet were also covered in spikes, and its head sported two very large horns just above its comically large eyes. X shrugged and continued on across the platform. The next second, he felt an indescribable pain in his back. He was falling, but his vision was blurry and he couldn't see well.

He landed hard on a small platform. He was in the dark pit that he saw before. The pit shook violently when CF-0 landed, and X got up shakily. His vision was returning and he could see it rear back. It raised its hand high; ready to crush X. He stumbled back and pulled out his arm cannon. The pain in his back was getting worse and worse and he was straining to hold onto consciousness. He charged up and fired. His shot went wild and bounced off of its raised arm. It began to descend upon him, and he didn't have enough energy to dodge it. Suddenly, a large green beam saber flew across the room and imbedded itself in a joint on CF-0's arm. Half of its arm flew off its hinges and crashed to the ground below. The other half sailed harmlessly over X's head. CF-0 spun its head in confusion, then turned back to its prey. It didn't expect another beam saber to plunge through its head.

It began whirring unhappily, then collapsed into the darkness. X pulled himself into a sitting position and scanned the pit for his savior. A dark purple form landed in front of him, her long brown hair swaying with the motion. " Hi X! Long time no see." Calliope said. X merely grunted. She saw the tear in his back where CF-0's spiked hand had punched through. She frowned. Then she knelt down next to X and pulled out an energy capsule and a welder from her backpack. "Take this." She gave X the capsule and he put it in an open slot in his armor. As Calliope began to weld the armor on his back together, he felt his strength returning thanks to the capsule.

" Nice timing," He commented.

" I aim to please." She replied. She finished welding together his armor. " How does that feel?" She asked. X got up and stretched a bit.

" Perfect. How did you get here, anyway? When I saw you get hit, I was afraid you didn't make it."

" When my chaser stalled I knew I was a sitting duck, so I jumped off before I could be hit. It was close, and I still got a few scrapes, but I'm fine." She reassured him. " I do have some bad news though. I dropped some of the explosives on my way here. I don't think we have enough to light this place up." X sighed and shrugged his shoulders. The whole mission was a bust now, after all of that hard work. Just then something caught X's eye. It was a single huge pillar protruding from the bottom of the pit to the ceiling. Around it was another pillar, then several more. They all seemed to be holding the factory up.

" Hey Calliope, do you see those pillars over there?" X asked her. She nodded. " Do we have enough explosives to blow those up?" She smiled.

" Does the sun rise?" They made their way down the platforms and laid the bombs on the pillars.

" How long do we have?" He asked.

" About ten minutes, which should be just enough time for us to get out, but not long enough for them to figure out what hit 'em." The way back was rather uneventful since X had wiped out all of the defense forces on his way in. When they reached the exit they saw a familiar green reploid.

" Hey, what took you guys so long?" Drake asked. X gave an exasperated sigh.

" It would have gone much quicker if you had helped us at all." he retorted.

" Look, you never asked for my help, so-"

" We shouldn't _have_ to ask you for help!" Calliope interjected grumpily.

" I actually have a perfectly reasonable explanation for being late," Drake said, leaning on the side of the entrance. When he had moved out of the way, the other two hunters could just barely make out their transport jeep parked out on the shadowed desert. " You two should feel honored. I had to drag my sore, sand-covered ass all of the way back to the jeep just so I could pick up you two."

" Forgive me if I don't feel touched." Calliope snorted as she hoisted herself up into the back of the jeep, with X quickly behind her.

" Hey, at least he didn't just leave us behind here to rot while he drove back to H.Q." X said jokingly. Drake fumed in mock-anger.

" What makes you think I would just up an' leave you stranded in the middle of the desert, huh?"

" Plenty of things." X and Calliope said in perfect unison. With a sigh of resignation, Drake slid into the driver's seat and gunned the engine. The trio of hunters were many kilometers away when the factory silently began to crumble into the dust.

End

AN: Woohoo! There goes my first chapter, now let's see how many more I get through before I lose interest in this project. Just kidding, I'm actually going to see this one through, with or without reviews. Preferably with. Hint, hint. 


	4. Chapter 2: Trouble's a Brewin'

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Megaman X2: Eternal War

Chapter 2: Trouble's a brewin'

By Genoscythe

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Disc: Capcom owns everything, yadda yadda. I'm not gonna repeat myself, so get over it. Besides, who cares if I write a disclaimer or not? It's not like Capcom's gonna sue me for this, right? *Gets dragged off by the police* Well screw that.

A.N. Hello fellow reader(s). I decided that my earlier chapters needed more work, especially this one, so I rewrote most of it. If you really don't care what the hell I do to the early chapters, that's fine, but I tend to over-criticize my own works, so I thought it needed to be done. If you actually _do _want to read it, then enjoy. 

* * *

Usually during the day, the _Techno Nights _bar was completely deserted. Since the majority of its patrons were Maverick Hunters, they came later after their missions were complete. At night, the bar was full to bursting with reploids and humans alike, getting stone drunk and trying to forget all of their woes. This was one of those nights. It was packed with drunken humans and reploids, some dancing, some drinking, some vomiting. Megaman X sat at a table near the back, far away from the main group of people. Drake sat across from him, and both were in their casual human clothes.

X absent-mindedly took a sip of his lemonade (Drake had insisted he get hard lemonade) and leaned back in his chair. " Y'know, you've gotta relax once in a while, man. Take a deep breath, meditate, shit like that." Drake said to him. " I think you spend more time worrying about everyone else than you do yourself."

"I don't need to worry about myself," X replied. " There are thousands of lives that are more important than mine."

"Don't say that, man. You beat Sigma! You're the greatest maverick hunter since Genoscythe!" 

" Just because I was a hero once doesn't mean my life should be put above others. We still have a job to do, if you remember our little desert fiasco. We can't afford to act like heroes."

" Yeah, well…" Drake began, then took one last swig of his drink. " I'm gonna go get some more, you want anything?" X shook his head. Drake got up and walked off to the counter. Meanwhile, X surveyed the bar. He spotted a few familiar faces here and there, but then he stopped when he saw a very familiar face. On the other side of the bar, Calliope sat talking with some human hunters. Her streaked brown hair cascaded down the length of the chair and the light fixture seemed to make it shine with an unearthly brightness. Her dark blue eyes nearly cast their own glow, like infinite dark light bulbs. She seemed so indescribably beautiful at that moment. X couldn't take his eyes off of her. He was surprised. He had always liked Calliope; maybe even had a bit of a crush on her, but not to this degree. He suddenly turned away and gulped down all of his lemonade as a distraction from his mind, which was playing dirty images of her over and over. He coughed and sputtered as a result of drinking too fast and the surge of alcohol in his system. _That's it, _He thought, _It's this damned alcohol._ Just then Drake walked back to the table with a cocktail in hand. " Hey, uh… X?" He waved his hand in front of X's face. " YO!" X grabbed the side of his head.

" Huh? What's going on?" He asked.

" You just kinda zoned out there, buddy. You okay?"

" Uh… yeah, I'm fine." He took one last look at Calliope. Drake noticed this and looked in the direction of his gaze. He quickly caught on to the meaning of the stare.

" Oh, I get it." He gave X a knowing smile.

" What?"

" I see who you're staring at."

" Staring? I have no idea what you're talking about." X said, but he blushed, giving him away.

" Whatever. Look, if you need any love advice, just ask the love machine himself!" Drake pointed to himself.

" You? A love machine? I think you've had too many beers."

" Come on, you're implying that I'm not as irresistibly hot as I think I am? Drake asked.

" Yes. Yes I am." X replied.

" Man, you're cold." 

* * *

It was nearing one o'clock in the morning, and all of the humans had left. Now all that remained were the reploids that had nothing better to do. Several new people had come in, a humanoid and a beetle reploid, but other than that, it was emptying out. Drake was out cold. His head was on the table and saliva was pooling under his mouth. X had long ago given up drinking alcohol, he wasn't a heavy drinker. Instead, he tried to focus on other things. Anything that would get his mind off of Calliope. He had debated with himself whether or not he would talk to her, but he found that he didn't have the courage. From across the table, Drake stirred quietly. X sighed. It was going to be a very long night.

The beetle reploid that had come in earlier was eyeing Drake suspiciously. X wondered what he was up to. Suddenly, it slammed its fist on the counter, smashing its mug. It stomped over to the two hunters, making large dents in the floor as it walked. Drake sleepily opened his eyes and shook his head. The beetle towered over him, reaching a full 13 feet. Its back was covered in nondescript silver armor, with razor sharp gauntlets on its arms and bracers on its legs. It only had one eye; the other had obviously been shot out due to the burn marks on the artificial skin of its eye socket. Under the armor, the reploid had a thick brown carapace. Now, the large creature made a grab for Drake.

"Man, I just had the freakiest dream," He began, but then he felt a tremendous hand on his head. It grabbed a tuft of jet-black hair and yanked the poor reploid up roughly, so he could see the beetle's face.

" I knew it was you, Drake. I told you never to come sleazing around this bar again!" The beetle's voice sounded like gravel on steel. " I remember clearly what you did to me, and I feel I need some retribution." Drake squirmed briefly, but was clearly overpowered. Many of the patrons got out of their seats to watch the possible bar fight; they needed anything to keep them occupied from their own sorrow.

" Look, man, I don't know what you're talking about, or who the hell you are, so just buzz off!" He futilely kicked at the behemoth, but to no avail.

" Awww… you don't remember good old Jawbreaker? If you would recall, you seemed to have a little problem with team spirit back when we were working with Emilio. It cost me my eye, and my checkbook, if you could remember."

" Oh yeah, now I remember. Sorry, your agenda didn't exactly meet with my needs. If you need compensation, I'll gladly loan you some cash." Drake replied coolly. Jawbreaker punched him hard in the gut, making him cry out. 

" Sorry doesn't help with the cost of damages, now does it?" Up until now, X had been too shocked to react, but now he slowly reached for a mug. Jawbreaker punched Drake several more times and threw him against the wall. It began to trudge over to its victim, when a mug of beer flew at its face. The mug shattered and alcohol sprayed all over its eye. While momentarily stunned, X threw in a punch, which barely glanced off the beetle's armor. Suddenly, another form leapt upon Jawbreaker, slamming its fists into the beetle's neck. Yet another came in, armed with a taser.

The second form leapt at the mechanical beetle's back, jabbing forward with the long, electrified pole. Quicker than lightning, Jawbreaker spun around and smashed the newcomer in the jaw (pardon the pun). He flew into a table, knocking glasses and chairs down as he did so. Now, the beetle grabbed onto the reploid hanging on his neck, and with a quick thrust, sent her flying into X. He brought up his arms in a cross to cushion the impact. The stranger fell in front of him, barely moving him back a step. When he looked down, he recognized the beautiful features of Calliope, his fellow Maverick Hunter. Her eyes fluttered open, and he helped her up to a sitting position.

" Hey, are you okay?" He asked with notable concern. She brushed off her dazedness and stood up.

" Man, does trouble always follow you around, or is this just a bad week?" She asked cheerily.

" I take that as a yes," he mumbled. By this time, a large crowd had gathered and they were cheering loudly. Jawbreaker was moving in on Drake, who was still lying dazed against the wall. The two hunters ran at him, but almost like he had eyes in the back of his head, he jumped to the left and grabbed a table. He tossed it at the hunters, and X barely pulled Calliope out of the way before it hit her. Jawbreaker began throwing more miscellaneous things at them.

" So is this joker a maverick or what? He seems hell-bent on getting to your dirty little friend over there." Calliope said in between breaths, while she easily dodged the things being thrown at her. 

" I don't know who he is, but I can tell that he's not a maverick. He said he wants Drake dead because of something he's done in the past." As Jawbreaker was backing up, he got closer to the stranger with the taser, who had recovered and was now sitting behind a table, ready to strike.

Calliope dodged left, right, then left again to avoid getting hit by some beer mugs. She dashed forward, ducked under an oncoming table, and rammed into the beetle as hard as she could. He staggered back, right onto the stranger's taser. The jolt went all the way up the beetle's spine, and it shrieked in fury. Its circuits fried, it fell to the ground in a heap. Calliope ran back over to X, eager to talk to her companion. The other hunter with the taser got up slowly and dusted off his clothes. He was barely taller than X, who was about 6 feet tall. He wore a clean silver officer's vest with gold trimmings and a red undershirt. On top of his head, he wore a white beret, with blond hair sticking out the back. He walked to X and held out his hand in a gesture of respect.

" Greetings captain X. I am Commander Briggs, leader of the 15th division. I've heard very much about your combat record, and I must say that it's very impressive. Do you have any idea as to what happened here?"

" I do!" Interjected Drake, who had gotten out of the corner and composed himself. He wiped blood from his lips and continued. " That guy you just buzzed is a mercenary reploid named Jawbreaker. I used to work with him, but they doublecrossed me and I had to retaliate. I took his eye and his wallet, and apparently he has some kind of grudge against me." He kicked the crispy reploid in the stomach. " Or had, but now he's deep fried thanks to you, commander."

"That was just on low power, he'll be back. I suggest you get out of here before that happens. I'll clean up here." Briggs instructed.

" Music to my ears. Thanks Briggs." With a slight wave, Drake sped off out the door.

" I think you two had better get back to the base as well. You both need to recharge; we have a long day tomorrow." Briggs said, addressing the remaining hunters. X shrugged. Now was his chance. He just needed to summon some courage.

" Mind if I walk you back, Calliope?" He asked, with a surprising note of calmness in his voice.

" Sure. Sounds great. These streets aren't safe to travel alone anymore, anyway." She smiled at him, and he began to go rigid. He gulped and they walked out of the bar.

* * *

" I thought you said production was on schedule. We cannot fall behind! Do I make myself totally clear?" A voice called out in the darkness. A single computer with a holographic screen lit the room. Three figures stood in the room, totally immersed in shadow.

" I did say that. Bypassing his security system was much more difficult than we planned. We are close though, all we need is his main power chip, which is stored at Maverick Hunter H.Q."

" And? Can't we just break in there and steal it?"

" Always the simpleton. Maverick Hunter H.Q. is the most safeguarded foolproof building in history. We cannot hope to break in by ourselves. We need more time to devise a plan. Contact our mavericks and tell them to buy us some time."

" But won't we be wasting needlessly? We need as many mavericks as possible if our plan comes to attack."

" We can't risk being discovered until the time is right."

" What about X? He poses a great threat to us. He has slain countless mavericks before him, even Sigma!"

" Do not fret. I have a plan that will rid us of him once and for all."

End

A.N. Well, here's chapter two version 2.0. I've added character descriptions, and changed the bar fight. It was much longer, and I like that. Here's where the romance comes in. This is my first time writing a romance, so those might not handle as well as the rest. I'll do my best, and if I do any more stories (which I probably will), I'll have some experience so you can expect it to be better. That's all for now, so stay tuned for chapter 3! 


	5. Chapter 3: Maverick Malice

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Megaman X2: Eternal War

Chapter 3: Maverick Malice

By Genoscythe

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Disc: Why do I write this anymore? Capcom's got it all!!!

A.N. Yay, the story continues as usual. If anyone is still reading this, congratulations, you get a bag of bent nickels (Just kidding!). Anyway, now is pretty much where the actual game comes in. I won't be covering all of the levels, only ones I think are important or fun (and easy) to do. I don't want to make this too long, since this is my first fic'.

* * *

Rain was coming down hard on the pavement, making the dirt and trash from the previous day wash out the gutters to kill millions of innocent sea life. Calliope enjoyed the rain, but since she was only wearing a tank top, a denim jacket, and shorts, it wasn't the best idea to take a stroll in the rain. Especially since it was nearing below fifty degrees. She shivered and rubbed her hands together to make some warmth. Megaman X, who was walking beside her, saw how cold she was and put his arm around her. Surprisingly, she did not resist. In fact, she moved closer to him. He smiled, despite the downpour around them. She herself was not sure why she did it, but she felt unusually comfortable next to him. He seemed to radiate with an aura of calmness that quelled her normally radical behavior. He pushed a tendril of his soaking, light brown hair out of his eyes so he could see well.

The silence felt awkward, so he decided to start a conversation. " I've never seen you at the bar before. I didn't know you drank." It was a feeble attempt, but it seemed to work for her.

" I don't. Usually, I go there to dance or talk with some of the contacts we have there. I never really liked alcohol much." She replied.

" Oh. Me neither, but Drake insisted that I get some. You'd be surprised at the things you would do when you have a gun pointing at your head." They both had a good laugh from his joke. Calliope still shivered from time to time, so X took off his jacket and put it on her. She was about to protest, but he shushed her, saying that she needed it more.

" That's one thing I like about you, X. You're always so kind and gentle. Unlike all of the other male hunters at the H.Q."

" Uh, really? You mean it?" X sputtered, not finding the right words.

" Of course. I've never had any male or female hunter offer me their jacket. You never see your sort of kindheartedness in the hunters these days. Especially in the newer reploids. While they're supposed to be superior, they seem to lack the human qualities that we take for granted. They sacrifice their free will just for flashier equipment and bigger guns."

" Wow, that was incredible. You would make Shakespeare proud!" He said, still in wonderment about her compliment. _Say something, you nimrod! Compliment her or something! _His subconscious rang out. Before he could think of something to say, she changed the subject.

" I wonder what Commander Briggs meant when he said that we had work to do tomorrow?" Calliope asked.

" I dunno. I don't like the sound of it, though." They made small talk the rest of the way as they walked back to Maverick Hunter H.Q. Once there, X was about to go inside, but Calliope stopped him.

" Wait. I wanted to sit out here and watch the rain. Would you like to sit down with me?" She asked. X was quite surprised. Now she was the one asking for his company. He couldn't possibly turn her down, of course, so he knelt down next to her. She shivered again, and X pulled her closer to him. She laid her head on his shoulder and squirmed a bit before she was totally relaxed. Lightning soon started, making the whole show more spectacular. He sighed. He had never felt so content and at peace before. They stayed like that for several more moments, each cherishing every second.

However, it was getting late, and fatigue was showing in their minds. Finally they decided to go inside. " That was wonderful X. I'd like to do that again sometime."

" Sure. I think we should talk more often… uh, I mean, if that's okay with you, of course." He smiled at her sheepishly, damning his clumsiness.

" Yeah, I would like that." She gave him a smile. " Thanks for walking me back!" She called out as she ran off to her quarters. X whistled and leaned back against the wall. He would not soon forget this night; he knew that for sure. Moments later, he headed off towards his quarters.

* * *

Morning came all too quickly for X (but technically it was already morning). He quickly got dressed in his hunter uniform and headed for the 17th's briefing room. There, several members of the seventeenth had already arrived, filling the seats in front of the technical readout board. Commander Genoscythe stood at the front, looking menacingly tall compared to the other reploids in the room. His shifting red eyes reminded X of crimson flames, forever trapped within crystal retinas. He was in his dark blue and gray battle suit as usual. It had a full dark blue faceplate that covered his entire face, save his eyes and helmet. It's shoulder plates jutted out from his shoulders, mainly dark gray with blue lining. His chest and leg armor was designed after Zero's, minus the weird green breastplates. On his arms there were gold rings that encircled his wrists, and a large gold blade protruded from his right elbow. The most menacing part of the enigmatic leader of the 17th division was the giant beam scythe on his back. It towered over his horned helmet and most of the hunters in the entire base. Not one hunter in the building doubted his power and authority. Well, mostly everyone. " Listen up! Before we begin with the briefing, I'd like to introduce you to a new member of the Maverick Hunters. He just arrived this morning, so don't give him any grief until he's settled in." His crystal red eyes swept the room to emphasize his point. Suddenly, a reploid stepped forth from behind Genoscythe. He wore navy blue armor, which was so thick; it seemed hard to walk with it on. His helmet was like a solid block of hardware; two antennae on each side of his head, a green night vision lens above his face, several fins on the back of his head, and all sorts of wires and gizmos were visible through his helmet.

He wore a blue tinted visor over his eyes and a yellow scarf around his neck. He also carried an enormous shield on his back, which seemed unnecessary due to his thick armor. " Hello. My name is V.R." He said. Jett, a young maverick hunter sitting in the front row sneered and began booing the new hunter. In less than a second, Genoscythe had him dangling in the air, his left hand around poor Jett's neck.

" I made it _very _clear that you were not to harass our new comrade. You have disobeyed a direct order, and that is unacceptable. If you so much as _flinch_ for the remainder of this briefing, I _will _reassign you to the Medical Division. I sincerely doubt you want Mobius shoving half-dead hunters up your ass for you to fix." Mobius was the head doctor in the M.D., and he was known for his short temper and lack of general sanity. Jett made a faint nod of his head to show that he understood, and Genoscythe roughly dropped him on the floor. " Well, let's continue, shall we? Tell us something about yourself, V.R."

" I have nothing to say."

" Ah, a reploid of many words. You'll fit in well here." Genoscythe gestured to an empty seat, and V.R. sat in it. " Back to the main point of this briefing, we have discovered several maverick hideouts that were recently inactive. Intelligence still hasn't found out why they have been dormant until now, but we know that this is a threat. You are going to assemble several teams and investigate these locations." The tech readout board lit up with a small graphic of the H.Q. and the surrounding city. It zoomed out and soon showed the entire island of New Tokyo. Four dots appeared on the graphic, one on the volcanic energy plant, one on the energen crystal mine near the sea, one in the manmade desert used as an animal preserve for ostriches and a non profit ride chaser park, and the last on the huge tower that housed the master computer; one enormous supercomputer that ran every auto-electrical device in Neo Tokyo city. A hunter in the second row whistled.

" Why would they do this? This isn't some coordinated attack. They're too far spread to be an effective fighting force." The hunter said.

" True, but they haven't attacked anything yet. I simply said that there was unusual activity there. They could simply be luring us to them, so that they could break through our weaker defenses around the H.Q. That is why we and the 15th will be the only ones going to investigate. The rest of the hunters will be ready to deflect any attack on us. Your teams will be chosen after break. Report back here in four hours (sorry, I don't know military time). Several hunters cheered, punching their fists into the air and hollering. They weren't often given a break during the day.

X got up and stretched his sore synthetic muscles. Then, he pushed through the crowd; he spotted Calliope by the door. He immediately rushed over to her, and she gave him her usual small smile. He returned it and they walked out of the room together. 

V.R. rubbed the back of his neck as he watched the overjoyed hunters prance about the hallway, laughing and yelling. " Are you people always this jovial?" He asked the purple suited hunter leaning on the wall next to him. He shook his head, jet-black hair swinging around his face.

" Nope, it's just that we haven't had a break in a million frickin' years. It's constantly 'monitor this,' or 'go investigate that,' or ' go train your ass off at the gym.' Genoscythe is a slave driver, not a freaking commander." He said. V.R. gave him a curious look.

" You don't seem too happy about this."

" You got it, spunky. I've got nothing to do but get drunk off my rear at the local bar."

" Uh… a bar?" V.R. asked inquisitively.

" Jesus Christ, you don't know what a bar is? Were you activated yesterday or something? Eh, whatever. I might as well show you around. C'mon kid." He beckoned for him to follow down the corridor. " Oh, by the way, my name's Drake."

" Umm… nice to meet you, Drake." V.R. smiled weakly. This new life wasn't turning out to be so bad after all.

End

IMPORTANT A.N: Just so there won't be any confusion, I envision reploids as something like a bio android; if any of you have seen Outlaw Star (One of the best anime EVER) then you know what I'm talking about. They're basically like artificial humans with robotic parts instead of organs. Just so no one gets confused between Capcom's robotish reploids and my version of reploids. Until next time! 


	6. Chapter 4: It begins

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War

Chapter 4: It begins

By Genoscythe

__

Disc: You heard me right.

It was dark. That was all that X knew. His enemy was somewhere within that darkness. Only problem was, it was so dark, he might as well not have eyes. Even worse, his enemy was hanging from the ceiling, so he could not rely on footsteps. He shifted at the sound of movement. Suddenly, there were neon lights in front of him, like a bent Christmas tree. It barely illuminated a large apish figure. X was caught off guard, and Spark Mandrill gut punched him. He was sent flying, barely skimming the floor. While still moving, he planted his right hand on the floor and propelled himself feet-first into the air. He spun, flipped, and landed on his feet in a matter of several seconds (I pictured this move in my mind, and it just sounded too cool). He fired several shots from his arm cannon at the lights moments before they went out. The maverick howled, confirming the hit.

Spark Mandrill held out his fist, and a small spark appeared in his palm. He hurled it at X with deadly accuracy. He was caught and spasmed as the volts were sent through his system. The light lingered, and X could still see the maverick's face. He began to charge his buster and Mandrill charged. As its fist flew out, X fell under him and pressed his buster on its chest. " Game over," He muttered as he fired. Mandrill screamed and the blast passed through his body. Instead of exploding like any mechanical reploid, he burst into millions of tiny pixels. The once dark room became lit, and the room became white and sterile. X pulled off his helmet and wiped his forehead. It was the seventh maverick he fought today, and though they were easy, so many were wearing him out.

He walked out of the training room and back to his quarters. He put away his armor and took out his natural clothes. Then, he decided to head to the research division to research some of the new maverick locations. He told himself it was to better understand his environs when he was fighting mavericks, but what he really came there for was solitude. He was halfway through the file on the volcano when he saw her, checking out some disks at the front desk. He immediately got up and walked over to her as she headed to the exit. He waved to her and she waved back. " Hi! I didn't expect to see you here, Calliope." He said. She shrugged.

" Thought I should review some of those new places we're assigned to," She waved the disks in her hand.

" Do you need me to help you with that?" He asked dumbly.

" X, these disks weigh less than a pound each. I think I can carry these by myself thank you," She said, giggling. He slapped himself, repeatedly damning his clumsiness again. " It must be all of the stress. All I ever see you do is work. Don't you ever get out? Y'know, play a game, read a book, lay out in the sun, breathe," She said coyly. " Maybe you should eat every once in a while too. I hear that's all the rage with kids these days." They laughed at her comment.

" Maybe you're right. Maybe I have been working too much, and I need to take out some stress." He sighed. Then, surprisingly, a weird thought came into his mind. He poked Calliope in the ribs. Apparently, it shocked the hell out of her.

" What the hell was that for?" She asked him.

" I'm relieving some stress." He stated.

" You're insane. You have gone completely nuts." He poked her again. And again. " If you poke me one more time, I'm gonna take that finger, bend it like a boomerang and shove it where the sun don't shine!" She replied in mock anger. He ignored her and poked her again. " That's it!" She yelled and she poked him back.

" That was your best shot? I think I need to teach you the art of finger poking."

" There is no art. All you have to do is stick out your finger like so, and jab it in your ribs like so." She then jabbed him hard in his stomach. He let out a yelp and grabbed for her. She began running and he chased her down the corridor. Calliope dropped the disks she was laughing so hard. He chased her across the halls of the H.Q. until they reached the courtyard. It was located in the middle of the building, and it was like a vast garden where the hunters went to relax, train, or just enjoy themselves. They just reached the grass when he pushed off of the ground and grabbed her. She yelled in surprise as he tackled her, but by the time they hit the ground, she was laughing hysterically. He pinned her down to the ground so she couldn't get up.

" I win," He said.

" Not so fast Skippy," She said as she twisted around and caught him by surprise. She rolled over and was now on top of him. Calliope grinned broadly at him, then leaned her head down, her mouth was next to his ear. " I win," She whispered. They couldn't control it any longer. They both went into another fit of laughter. When they were done laughing, X propped himself up on a tree and took a deep breath of fresh air. 

" I haven't had that much fun in ages, Calliope. Thanks for trying to cheer me up." X said to her, who was nestled up next to him.

" Hey, that's what I'm here for," She replied.

" You're pretty strong for a girl." He commented.

" I'm a hunter, aren't I? Maverick hunters have to keep in shape, no matter what sex they are." The word Maverick Hunter sparked something in the back of X's mind. He gasped.

" Crap! We're missing the briefing!" He exclaimed. He and Calliope got up and dashed off for the 17th's briefing room, not bothering to change into their uniform. Genoscythe was in the middle of forming the team to attack the desert when they burst into the room.

" Ah, so our two young hunters haven't been taken by mavericks after all." Genoscythe commented. Several hunters sniggered and X sweatdropped. He would never hear the end of this. " If you would take your seats, then maybe we could possibly get things going, hm? Never mind the fact that you aren't in uniform." There was another round of sniggering as they took their seats. Most of the hunters were gone, since they had been assigned to the energen mine and the desert. Next was the Central Computer. He began to call up Maverick Hunters one by one. "… Casein, Jett, Calliope, Maxel, and Lex. I also got special permission from special unit 0 to use one of their top technicians." It was then that X noticed a figure standing in the corner. His features were hidden, but X could tell that he had six arms and what appeared to be a very large tail. It cast him an icy glare, then turned its attention back to the briefing. " This is Magnas. He is the best technician in all of Neo Tokyo City." Genoscythe gestured towards the figure in the corner, and he stepped forth and stood next to the other hunters. He was, as X had guessed, a centipede reploid with a magenta color and large yellow eyes. He bowed and spoke.

" I am ready to take any risk to assure that the Central Computer is not harmed. Though I must add that I am not a very skilled fighter, and I will need backup."

"That's what these guys are for." Genoscythe gestured to the other hunters.

" Affirmative," Was Magnas's only reply. The hunters exited the room to prepare for the mission. X looked around the room. There were only two hunters left; himself and V.R.

" X, V.R., you two will be going to the Geothermal Energy Plant."

" What?" X exclaimed. " Only two hunters against an entire factory of mavericks? That's suicide!" He caught himself before he could continue with his outburst, seeing as how perfect today was going so far.

" It isn't suicide for you, X. You're the top hunter, next to me. The point of this is to teach our new friend how to react in the heat of battle. I'm sure that it would get too confusing with so many hunters. We need to ease him into his new job."

" But can't you just send one more? Why don't we postpone the mission and have me go along to the Central Computer?" X pleaded.

" No dice, X. You have your mission, and I expect you to carry it out." He sighed reluctantly and walked off to his quarters.

* * *

" Sir, we have isolated all of his systems. They have been fully re-integrated into the computer."

" Perfect. Run the scan." A diagnostic sheet scrolled down the holographic screen. Each section of the subject's body had maximum statistics and showed that they were fully repaired.

" Now all we need is the main chip. Speaking of which, how are our mavericks doing?"

" They are fine, sir. The hunters have not made a move yet, though they doubtlessly know we're there. The dino tank is almost prepped for launch. Maybe several more days and it will be ready. Velocity Raptor has already reached the greenhouse and he is awaiting further orders."

" Right. Tell him to hide his forces and kill any hunters that try to go through. We will make our presence known to the Maverick hunters soon enough."

End

A.N: Well, what do you think? R&R if you have any thoughts. Yes, I made up my own maverick, but only one. There will be action aplenty in the next chapter, so stay tuned, my viewers, and be amazed at my wonderful works of…stuff… 


	7. Chapter 5: Can't take the heat?

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War

Chapter 5: It's heating up

By Genoscythe

__

Disc: Why do I bother?

Magnas was bored out of his skull. It was nothing like being with the members of special unit 0. The members of the 17th took this mission too lightly; acting like it was just a walk in the park. 0 members were serious about their jobs, and they were the most successful of all of the units. Why, then, did these fools goof off instead of concentrate on their mission? " Hey, centipede guy! Why so blue? Did someone step on one of your brothers?" The driver asked. The hunters around him burst into loud, hearty laughter. How could they laugh like that when they were moments away from entering the most heavily guarded building next to MHHQ? 

" Give him a break for god's sake! This isn't even his unit." A female hunter interjected.

" Jesus, Calliope, we're just havin' some fun! Is it a crime to poke a little fun at somebody once in a while?" A hunter in jet-black armor replied. Seeing that she wouldn't win the argument, the female made no reply.

" Yo! We're here!" The driver called back. Magnas got up and reached for the door of the van, but a large hunter pushed him aside.

" Move aside, lobster-face. Make way for real maverick hunters." He slid open the door and the other hunters stepped out. The female gave him a pitying look as she got out behind the others. Magnas was going to enjoy killing every last one of them. 

* * *

A.N: The next scene is very graphic and violent. It contains decapitation, limb loss, and some dumbass hunters getting what they deserve. Y'know, just FYI.

Magnas pulled out the security codes for the level 1 lock and slid it into the door. Then, wires shot out of his hand and he plugged into the door himself. Several minutes passed as he deciphered the code in the system. Each of the locks on the door had two codes to bypass. One required the security card to be inserted, and the other needed a code inserted directly into the mainframe. He unlocked the door, and just as he did, a maverick hunter screamed in terror. Mavericks poured out of the adjacent hallways and the maverick hunters began firing. Magnas did nothing. One hunter, while firing, had backed up next to Magnas and was panting heavily. " We need your help, Magnas!" He shouted. Magnas recognized him as the large one who pushed him in the van. Magnas smirked (half-smirked, since he only has mandibles for a mouth). Suddenly, he thrust out his hand and the hunter's pistol flew to him. The hunter's mouth opened in shock as Magnas crushed the weapon in one hand and reached his other three for the hunter. Then, he felt his armor begin to tug in the direction of Magnas's hands. As he was pulled in closer, he let out one last scream as Magnas's tail swung down and crushed his head in its pincers.

At that signal, all of the mavericks stopped and scurried off down the halls. The hunters looked around them to see if it was real. Magnas calmly walked over to another hunter and proceeded to chop his head off with his tail. The hunters looked aghast at him, then at their fallen comrade. His arms shot out and ripped the limbs off of another hunter. The hunters snapped out of their trance and began firing at him. "Traitor!" One yelled as he charged at him. Magnas simply blasted him into the wall with a reverse magnetic shot. Bullets flew away from his magnetized body before they even hit, and the hunters began to lose faith in their abilities.

One hunter tried to run, but suddenly Magnas was in front of him. He wrapped his arms around the screaming hunter's neck and twisted, snapping the artificial bone like twigs. A female fired a beam rifle at him, but her aim was off and it hit the wall. He grabbed some debris with his magnetic hands and flung them at the remaining hunters with unimaginable speed, smashing their faces and killing them instantly. The carnage continued for several minutes, and there were only two hunters left. It was the female from before, and the one in black armor. Several times the female had attacked him, but he spared her for last because of her generosity. The other was just too terrified to attack. With his rage for his fallen comrades, he mustered the courage to attack. He gave a yell as he charged forward and began firing. He leapt in the air and took out a beam knife. Unfortunately, he never got to use it, for Magnas's tail came down on his chest and punched clean through. His mouth gaped in surprise as the tail was pulled free, letting blood flow freely. In a last effort, he activated a booster on his back and flew back to the female in purple. She scooped him up in her arms and ran away down the corridor.

Magnas did not follow them. He didn't feel the need. He had taken his revenge, and it was not necessary to kill them all. He flipped on a communication relay in his head. " This is Magnas. I have the codes and the hunters are dead. Permission to proceed to the master computer?"

" Yes," A deep voice said within his head. " I was a bit worried that I couldn't trust you. After all, your ties run deep with the maverick hunters."

" No worries, master Sigma." His interface wires connected with a wall panel and he activated the security system. " I have just activated the security system for floor 1, and I'm now heading to the top floor." He stepped through the door and into an elevator. Moments later, he was on the 51st floor of the Central Computer, staring at an enormous super computer. It was similar to a giant pillar, with various wires protruding from all angles. An interface panel was located at the base of the pillar, and he connected to it. Instantly, information from all over the city began flooding into his electronic brain. It was a simple matter to manipulate any electrical device anywhere on the entire island. " Perfect," Magnas hissed.

" By the way, Magnas. As an official maverick, you need a new name. It is a symbol of your liberation from your human binds." Sigma said into the comm. link.

" I know, and I've thought this out. My new name will be Magna Centipede." Magnas replied coolly.

" Excellent. I will contact you for further instructions. Sigma, out." With that, the maverick leader's connection was severed. 

* * *

" I can't see anything! There's too much smoke," X grunted through his comm. link. He waved his arms around to clear the smoke, but it was virtually impossible. Smoke vents all around him were pouring out toxic gasses. Any human would be dead within minutes, but X had a program installed in his lungs to filter out any dangerous material. He was at the base of the mountain and was searching for a way up into the volcano. Finally, his hand felt rock, and he gripped it tightly as he placed his anti-grav boots on the surface. He started wall jumping his way up until he was clear of the smoke. Unfortunately, this left him without cover and a maverick beetle spotted him. He continued up the side of the volcano until he felt a warm gust on his back. He looked back to find an enormous beetle staring at him hungrily. He froze in fear and completely forgot to dodge. It rammed him with full force, and he cried out in pain. The blow was so strong that the wall behind him gave way, and they both flew into a cavern. It was lined with pumps and lights for the workers. 

X recovered surprisingly quickly, and he dashed off towards the wall, with the beetle close on his heels. When he reached the wall, he kicked off with his foot and landed on the maverick's flat back. From there, he jumped again into the corridor above. The beetle wasn't exactly designed for agility, and it was soon stuck in the cavern below. Several security guns protruded from the ceiling and began firing triple shots at X. He retaliated and blew them apart with a charged shot. He repeated the process again by climbing up the wall and past another corridor. Soon, he was at the top of the zigzag and found himself perched above a pit. Without thinking twice, he leapt off of the ledge and plummeted down the hole, with gunfire closely following him. At the bottom, he noticed a grill, which seemed to be almost bubbling over with lava. He gasped when he realized that the volcano was ready to erupt. Instantly, he began running, pumping his legs as hard as he could, violently cursing under his breath. _They led me into a trap, _He thought, _they rigged the volcano to blow just to stop me… _Seconds later, there was an explosion that rocked the whole mountain. Lava burst from the grill and began flowing quickly into the two corridors, filling them with magma. The flow was gaining quickly on X, and he tried ever harder to speed up. The walls were a blur, and he didn't even notice that the corridor had become vertical. The will to live combined with his momentum and anti-grav boots stuck him to the wall like it was horizontal. He saw light, but also felt the terrible heat behind him. He winced as the lava touched his toes and pain burst up his leg. _Almost there, _he though.

Just as he reached the top, the boiling lava and gas exploded, boiling over the top of the cinder cone and propelling X high into the air. He made several flips and landed gracefully on the sloping rock. He tapped his comm. link again and heard V.R.'s voice through the static. "…X…you…Can you… hear…X! Can you hear me?"

" Yeah, I hear you. What is it?" X responded.

" I lost contact when you entered the volcano. I tried to warn you, but I couldn't,"

" Warn me of what?" Suddenly, X felt a wave of heat wash over him and he was sent sprawling. When he got up, he saw a tall reploid in front of him. He had brown fur and armor covering his chest and legs. Half of his head was white, with red streaks around his eyes. Fire spouted out of the sides of his head, shaped in deer horns. The reploid held out his hand and another wave flew X's way. He rolled out of the way and fired several shots. They hit nothing, and then the reploid was in front of him, fist raised. X turned around and fired his dash boosters. The maverick was in hot pursuit (no pun intended) and was gaining very quickly.

* * *

V.R. rushed to the top of the cliff as fast as his legs would go. He was carrying a huge backpack full of equipment, but it hardly hindered his movement at all. When he reached the top, he had a birds eye view of the volcano and the energy plant inside it. He turned a dial on his helmet and his visor began zooming in on the top of a small cinder cone near the entrance to the volcano. There, he saw two forms, one blue and one brown and red. His comm. link crackled on. " I can't hit him! He's gaining on me, V.R., I could use some backup."

" Roger that," he replied. He took off the backpack and set it on the ground. Immediately, it folded open and there were many components for weapons inside. He pulled out the sniper rifle pieces and began putting them together. There were at least ten pieces to it; three pieces for the muzzle, a power core, two parts for the main body, a side handle for stability, the trigger, The scope lens, and shock buffer. He had assembled half of it when X frantically called on the comm. again.

" What's taking so long? He's right on me and my boosters are almost out of energy! Can you hurry a bit?"

" This is delicate machinery, X. I have to put it together, otherwise it won't work properly," V.R. said calmly.

" I can't outrun him any longer! Can you…" The comm. link went dead.

End

A.N: What a cliffhanger! I was going to finish the volcano level in this chapter, but it was already so long that I decided to add it into the next one. Besides, we all need a cliffhanger every now and then to keep your pulse up… unless you're up at one o' clock like I am right now. Please R&R, as always. Sayonara, folks! 


	8. Chapter 6: Tragedy

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War

Chapter 6: Tragedy

By Genoscythe

__

Disc: Yeah, I own Megaman. I own Megaman X too. In fact, I own all of Capcom, and I'm going to start making a Megaman X anime soon. Yeah, I even own the anime production companies, such as FUNimation and Sunrise. I even own you. And your pathetic little world too! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!(suckers) 

X fell hard on the ground, his helmet clattered on the rocks a few feet away. The large maverick pulled back its flaming fist again and let loose another punch. He skidded back several more feet and pulled out his blaster. He fired several shots at the maverick, but he dodged to the right, as X suspected. He immediately shot up and used the last bit of energy from his boosters to tackle the maverick. He kicked him in the chest and jumped back, aiming his blaster again. When X fired though, the maverick was nowhere to be seen. Curious, he walked to the edge of the cinder cone and found a near-vertical wall. Below it was a pool of lava, and in it were about five pillars leading to the larger part of the volcano. Clinging to the wall was the maverick, digging his gloved hands hard into the cliff wall.

" You think you can eradicate me so easily, hunter. I'm afraid you are sorely mistaken. Flame Stag answers to no one!" At uttering his name, the maverick pushed off the cliff and began hopping from the wall to the nearest pillar and back again. He continued the zigzag pattern until he reached the top, and immediately began shooting fire at the azure hunter. X rolled to the side, but the maverick expected him. With a knee kick to his chest, he was sent sprawling. A beep resounded from his boots, alerting him that his dash booster was recharged. A moment later, he shot off again, with doubled determination. 

* * *

V.R.'s hands shook as he tried to assemble the rest of the sniper unit. He couldn't assume that X was dead, but he also didn't know if he could make it in time. He fumbled one of the pieces and cursed under his breath. Then, he got an idea. He began whistling a tune that he had learned long ago, and it soothed him. It was an old blues tune that his creator, whoever that was, had taught him. He always found it comforting when he was distressed. Still whistling, he picked up the last sniper piece and fit it together. He held the enormous weapon up to his face and he began zooming in. He could see X, dashing along at top speed with the maverick behind him. V.R. breathed a sigh of relief; X wasn't wearing his helmet, so his comm. link must have just been knocked off.

Zooming in even more, he locked onto the maverick. The tune played in his head as he pulled the trigger once, twice, then a third time.

* * *

X jumped as he heard an explosion behind him. He looked back and saw Flame Stag clutching his chest. Then, two more bright beams of energy slammed into him, sending him into the ground. The maverick twitched several times then stopped completely. He looked to the right, where V.R. was positioned on a cliff. There was a flash, and then V.R. was next to him, slightly grinning. X smiled back at him. " I guess I can trust you after all." he said.

" Thank you," V.R. said, saluting. " I suggest we return to the H.Q. I do not wish to stay here any longer than necessary."

" Amen to that," X said, and with that, they both disappeared in brilliant flashes of light. 

* * *

** _" Do it," The dark haired man grunted. With a sigh, Drake raised his handgun and fired into the old man's chest. His eyes went wide and he crumpled to the floor with blood spilling freely from his wound. Drake closed his eyes and shook his head. The man bent down and pulled out the old man's wallet. Suddenly, a door flew open, and a reploid girl with brown hair, barely twenty, rushed out._

" Father!" She screamed as she rushed over to her creator. The dark haired man snickered and snapped his fingers.

" There can be no witnesses. Kill her, Drake." He stared at his master dumbfounded. He could easily kill a crime lord or a small mob of gangsters, hell; he could even kill this old man. But they were all wicked, corrupt souls. How could he kill a frail young woman like this?

" No," He said.

" What did you say?" The dark haired man hissed.

" I said no," Drake repeated. " She's just a girl! We don't need to kill her," He glanced over at the girl, who was now weeping softly over her creator.

" She could alert the authorities, Drake. They would be on to us in no time! Do you want to spend the rest of your life in jail, my friend?"

" No, I can't. This isn't right, killing innocents. I don't want to be a part of it!" He shouted.

" I am sick and tired of this, Drake. Your loyalty is wearing thin, and I think you are forgetting what a dangerous man I am," The man smiled wickedly. He pulled out a small gun and pointed it at the young girl, who was now staring at the pistol with wide, tear-filled eyes.

" NO!!" Drake yelled as he swatted the gun away and pointed his own at the man's head. " I won't let you kill her," The man sighed in resignation.

" Fine, just let me do one thing." He brushed the reploid aside and strode over to the fear-stricken girl. He put his hands together and brought them down on her head with a sickening crack. She fell over, unconscious. He walked to the door and swiveled his head around to face Drake, who was still standing in the corner, unmoving. " She's just unconscious. With any luck, she won't remember a thing. Now hurry, we have some rent to pay off." He said, holding up the wallet. Slowly, Drake began walking across the room to the front door, with a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach.**

Drake shot up out of his bed. He clutched the side of his head and moaned. He had had another dream about his past, ones he had been having for the past week or so. He had just taken a small napbefore his mission would start, but even then, the dreams haunted him. It was getting to the point where he couldn't sleep peacefully at all, lest he fall victim to his dreams. He groggily rolled out of bed and put his shorts and a shirt on, not bothering to shave as usual. He felt that if he talked to X about it, he would feel a bit better.

* * *

X tossed off his armor and uniform and put on some casual clothes. He laid the armor by his bed for the servo droids to pick up and take to the maintenance hangar.He found that one of the few perks of being a captain in the maverick hunters was that a servo droid or two would come around every other day to fix armor, clean the room, usually tasks that the hunters would never bother doing. Suddenly, the communicator on the wall began beeping. He walked over to it and pressed down on the voice stud. " What is it?" X asked, and it came out much harsher than he'd intended.

" X, this is Dr. Cain," An elderly voice said through the comm. speaker. " I need to speak to you, please." His voice sounded urgent.

" Alright, I'll be right there," X said as he let go of the stud and ran off for Cain's office. Several minutes later, he entered the room and sat down on a chair across from Dr. Cain's desk. His office was a rare sight, especially in a technologically advanced building like this one. The walls were metal, but they were covered with wood and wallpaper to recreate the old style of building used in the 20th century. A simple fan hung from the ceiling, providing a slight breeze in the hot room. " What's the problem, Doctor?" X asked.

" I'm afraid that we've been betrayed. The Central Control unit was led by Magnas, the hunter from special unit 0, but he turned on them and destroyed them." X stopped breathing. His heart caught in his throat when he heard the news of the team, the team that Calliope was with! It was all over, X knew, she was dead, the one person that meant so much to him was gone for good. He hung his head so that Cain wouldn't see the tears welling in his eyes. Slowly, he began to get up, but Dr. Cain stopped him. " Some of the hunters survived, though," X didn't move. " Two survived, to be exact,"

X wheeled around, his expression hard. " Who survived?" He asked rather calmly. Cain fumbled through his paperwork on the team's members.

" Calliope and Jett," Cain said. X breathed a long sigh of relief. He gripped the side of the chair and sat down again.

" How is Calliope? Is she all right? Where is she?" Dr. Cain merely smiled at the barrage of questions that he had concerning his female companion.

" Slow down, boy. She's fine, just a bit rattled. She was in the medical lab attending to Jett, but she left fairly recently, and I don't know where she is now," Then Dr. Cain smiled a small, slightly crooked smile. X cocked his head.

" What?" He asked. Dr. Cain just continued to smile.

" You seem awfully concerned about her, X. Could it be that I may be having grandchildren anytime soon?" Though the good doctor wasn't related to him in any way, they always considered each other family, hence Cain's reference to grandchildren. He looked mortified at his 'grandfather', though his blatant remark was true, and he blushed a deep crimson.

" I have no idea what you're talking about!" X shouted.

" I think you do. Come by my office later and we'll talk about it. Now, I'm afraid that I have quite a bit of paperwork to do, so shoo!" With that, Dr. Cain playfully shoved X towards the door. He waved to his good friend and ran out the doors towards Calliope's quarters.

* * *

Finally, X found room 1724, Calliope's room. He stopped at the door when he heard some faint noises from the inside of the small room. He couldn't tell what they were from outside, so he knocked on the door. There was no answer. He opened the door and stepped inside. Calliope lay on her bed in a fetal position, her head buried in the pillow, crying softly. X took a slow step forward, but before he could move again, she spoke. " Go away," She said, her words slurred by her pillow and the tears.

" It's just me," X replied. She rose from the bed and pulled the covers tightly around her, for she was only clad in her undergarments.

" Weren't you on a mission or something?" She asked. " I'm sorry, I didn't think you would be back yet."

" S'okay. We finished that one early. What happened at the Central Computer?" He knew what happened, he simply wanted to know the details. With the remembrance his words brought, though, she started her weeping all over again, and X moved to her side to calm her. He put his arm around her, and held her tightly to him, letting her cry into his chest.

" I… I saw them die… all of them…" She finally managed to say in between sobs. " He tore them to pieces… smashed their heads in… he even ripped out their guts!" Calliope wailed. X knew whom she was talking about, and didn't press her on any more details. " Twenty four hunters died yesterday, X. I saw them all die. I knew them. I thought they would always be there, I never really thought that they…" She continued. He put a finger to her lips.

" Hush. Everything's gonna be fine, just watch. I'll show this freak what he gets when he messes with the Maverick Hunters." He smiled warmly at her, and she smiled back, in spite of her shape. Then, he tilted his head down slowly, and gently kissed her forehead. She blushed wildly and looked away from him, which was just as well since he himself began blushing like crazy. Determined to change the subject, Calliope raised her head up to look at him.

" I think we should go see how Jett is doing. When I left the med. division, Mobius said that he wasn't looking good." she said, standing up and breaking their embrace. She looked down at herself and sighed. " Oh god, I'm a mess. Just wait outside for a minute while I clean up." She gently nudged X towards the door, and he stepped through to give her some privacy. He leaned against the wall and began whistling to distract his mind.

Suddenly, he heard laughter behind him. He whirled around and found Drake behind him, clutching his sides and laughing hysterically. " What the hell are you laughing at?" X stared crossly at him.

" That… was… so… damn… pathetic!" It was hard for the black haired reploid to speak through his fits of laughter. After a few moments, Drake was finally able to get a hold on himself, and he regained his normal posture. " What you just did, that was pathetic," He repeated.

" You heard that?" X asked, staring horrified at his good friend.

" Duh. These walls are so damn cheap that you could hear a pin drop behind 'em." He wiped tears of laughter from his eyes and leaned on the wall. " Everything's gonna be fine, just watch," He said, mimicking X's words in a whiny tone.

" Quit it!" X stepped forward and cuffed him on the side of the head.

SMACK! " Ah crap! Ow… so much for pacifism," He rubbed the side of his aching head.

" What are you doing here, anyway? Aren't you supposed to be out with the 15th taking care of some more mavericks?"

" The deployment time was postponed. We're supposed to leave in about an hour. That means I've got an hour left to annoy the hell out of you!" Drake said gleefully.

" Great," X said, rolling his eyes. Drake walked over to him and slung his arm around his shoulder.

" Just one word of advice; don't try to act so cheesy next time. Act savvy and cool, and don't just give her what she wants, always taunt her with it, first. That way, she'll want it more," Drake said in his best 'smooth operator' voice.

" How could you say something like that?" X gave his a shocked look. " Well, at least now I know what NOT to do," He said, grinning.

" That… that's just cruel," Drake adopted a mock hurt expression. They both settled down and in a few minutes, Calliope came out of her room, wearing her usual tank top and denim jacket. 

" Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" She exclaimed, running off down the corridor, with X closely on her heels.

" Heh, kids," Drake muttered as he began following them at his own pace.

End

A.N: Whew, that was a long one. I'm glad that I've finally got the story moving along, and I HOPE that more people are reading it. If anyone is wondering, I'm going to make a short 'fic about Drake's past that's separate from this 'fic. That little part here was just a teaser. I'll have the first chapter up in about a week, so sayonara! (sorry if anyone was offended by the disclaimer; it was just a bit of fun.) 


	9. Chapter 7: Battle at the HQ part 1

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War 

Chapter 7: Battle at the H.Q. (part 1)

By Genoscythe

Disc: Do you think I own Megaman? Huh? Do you?

A.N: Sorry this chapter took so long, I was fighting off the annual 'back to school sickness' that everyone seems to be getting now. All I felt like doing was sit on my ass all day and down fever pills. Which is pretty much what I did, anyway. I also played the Resident Evil remake to pass the time. I was waiting for inspiration to come to me, and it did, so now I present to you chapter seven in Megaman X2: Eternal War. 

* * *

" We can't afford to waste anymore time. The hunters have already eliminated the volcano and desert base, and I don't think that our mavericks can hold them long enough. We have to intervene."

" Attack the base!"

" Shut up, we need to devise a plan."

" The dinosaur tank is not yet completed, so a preemptive strike may be risky. We could take with us about five hundred cloaked transports and maneuver them around to the south coast of the island. Since Maverick Hunter H.Q. is right on the coast, we should be able to take them by surprise."

* * *

Commander Genoscythe strode down the well-lit hallway with a quick gait, anxious to get his report in and retire to his quarters. He entered his passcodes into the door to the control room and stepped through. The control room wasn't by far the largest room in the building, but it was close. The walls were lined with video screens, some small, some large. Technicians and operators worked away at computers on either side of the circular room. In the center, a large cylinder that could stand for a table stood. The top of it was clear, indicating that it could produce holograms. It was used for mapping, briefing, storing information, and many other needs that the hunters might have.

Commander Briggs was looking over a map as Genoscythe came in. Briggs turned to him. " What's the report?" He asked plainly.

" We've eliminated the volcano base and the desert base. The greenhouse team will be leaving in half an hour. And…" The 17th's commander trailed off.

" Yes, Dr. Cain told me about the incident at the Central Control. I'm very sorry, but we need to press onward. Find a way to get the Central Control back, no matter what,"

" Any other orders?"

" No, you may do as you were," Instructed Briggs. Genoscythe turned on his heels and headed for the door. He was already out in the hallway when he heard the alarmed cry. Immediately, he spun around and dashed back into the room. One of the operators at a computer screen was staring pale-faced at the monitor, and Genoscythe assumed that the scream had emanated from him. He ran over to the young boy, and Briggs followed.

" What the hell just happened, private?" Genoscythe bellowed. The poor reploid boy pointed a shaky finger at the screen. It was nearly filled with red dots. Red dots showed anything infected with the maverick virus. The operator stammered a few times, but finally swallowed his fear and spoke with a strong and calm voice.

" I saw an irregularity on the radar, just out on the south ocean. The scan came out clear, but when I looked at the visual display, I saw little ripples in the sky, like the light was bending away from something, much like a cloaking shield. Since nothing came up on the visual or radar display, I tried hacking into their shield's code, and I was able to break it. When the shield disappeared, I saw this." The kid pointed to the screen again. "I'd say that there are more than seven hundred transports out there right now. From their size they probably hold about two thousand mavericks each."

" Shit," Genoscythe hissed. " How close are they?"

" They just reached the coast now. It'll probably take them about twenty minutes to get here." Without saying a word, the commander turned to Briggs.

" Get the 15th ready for battle. Call the 7th and tell them to get an air strike ready. I'll get the 17th, 0, and 14th units and head out to the frontline. We've got to stop them from getting into the city."

" I'm not sure that it's the city that they want," Briggs stated.

" Why?"

" It's simple. We obviously pose the most threat to the Mavericks, so why would they try to go through us to get to the city? It's suicide, even in the crazed mind of those damned fanatics. They must be trying to get rid of us in a combined attack."

" Then we'll give them everything we've got." Genoscythe yelled so that the whole room could hear.

" I'll sound the alarm," The young operator piped in as he flipped a switch and the siren began. 

* * *

Five minutes earlier:

As soon as X, Calliope, and Drake entered Jett's room, they were overwhelmed with a sudden feeling of dread. He was lying on an operating table, with hundreds of tubes; needles and other equipment attached to him. They didn't even have time to get his black battle armor off, but Calliope doubted that they could even if they had the time. There was a gaping hole in his chest, clear from one side of his body to the other. Mobius had futilely tried to stop the blood flow, but his armor and torso were still completely stained crimson. Speaking of which, the head doctor was sitting in a chair, staring at a computer screen.

Mobius was a bat-type reploid, with completely black synthetic fur all over his body, with some patches of metal on his chest and arms. His lab coat had to be made with special holes in the back for his leathery wings, which he had constantly draped over his body like a cloak. Both his eyes were blood red, with no pupils. His enormous ears poked up far above any other hunter's standard height, measuring at about 10 meters in height. Now he rose, his wings folded across his body. " He's losing more fluids that we can pump into him," He stated matter-of-factly.

" Isn't there anything you can do for him?" Calliope asked, her hands clasped together tightly.

" Depends," Mobius said. " Depends on if this DAMN COMPUTER will work!" As his voice rose, he whirled around and punched a well-sized fist into the glass of the monitor. With a roar, he pounded his fist on the metal desk. This was why people questioned his sanity. It was also why nobody would dare to go near him unless he asked. " He has traces of an unusual magnetic substance near the wound, and any machinery we get near it goes on the fritz. I don't know if we can do anything for him," Mobius said after calming down a bit. " In fact, the only thing that's keeping him alive is the power generator that's giving his suit energy." Calliope hung her head, and X held her close to him to comfort her.

" So, basically what you're saying is that he's screwed and there's no point in keepin' him alive?" Drake asked incredulously.

" Yes. I MEAN NO! If we could somehow get the magnetic residue out of his body, then we could save him. But we CAN'T! Nobody knows how to perform a procedure that complicated."

" So he is screwed,"

" Exactly,"

" Shit."

Just then, a claxon sounded out from a panel on the wall. The lights turned red and a voice came over on the comm. link. " Attention all Maverick Hunters! A maverick attack is imminent! Suit up and head to the south coast as soon as possible!" Without hesitating for a second, the three hunters turned and sped off for the armory. Mobius sat back down on his chair and folded his hands together.

" What the hell are you mavericks up to now, I wonder?"

* * *

Maverick Hunter H.Q. stood on the edge of Neo Tokyo City, about a kilometer from the city and several kilometers from the coast. "Coast" really wouldn't be a good word for it, though, since it's the equivalent of a vertical wall of jagged rocks many, many kilos above the waves. This was where the maverick ships were positioned. Two had just been lost to an air raiding party, but it didn't slow down the mavericks one bit. Thousands were already on their way to the H.Q., while others were preparing weapons and equipment.

X lay on the short pile of boxes, eagerly watching the mavericks with a pair of binoculars. " This doesn't look good," He said to Drake, who was kneeling next to him. " They've got everything from siege tanks to hover trucks. Not to mention a good line of artillery in the back ranks." His green-clad partner snatched the binocs from his hands.

" Holy shit, you ain't kiddin' me," He swore, quickly scanning the premises. " Genoscythe had better know what he's doin'."

" As a matter of fact, I do." Suddenly, the tall imposing commander was next to the two, with his arms folded across his chest. He barked orders to some passing hunters, then turned back to the other two.

" With all due respect, sir, where are the 12th and the 16th units? Shouldn't we be concentrating all of our firepower on the frontline?" X asked in a subdued tone.

" They're with the 6th. They're going to try and take them from behind."

" You mean they're actually gonna try and scale the cliffs?" Drake asked incredulously.

"Sort of, there are a number of tunnels that the 6th use to get from the base to the ocean, and by using those tunnels, the 12th and the 16th will easily be able to make it to the top." Genoscythe explained.

" I get it. That's a great strategy." X mused. 

" Thank you. Now get ready, 'cause the fight hasn't even begun yet," With that, Genoscythe turned around and began walking away. " Oh, and guys," He turned around mid-stride. " Don't wear yourselves out. Take it easy, and give 'em hell!" Drake slumped down where he sat, and moaned. This was _not _going to be fun.

End

A.N: So, you like? Please review as always, and I'll be sure to keep writing. I'll probably keep writing anyway, since I'm doing this for fun only, but reviews are always welcome. I've got a major setback in production, so the first chapter of Drake's side story won't be up for a while longer, sorry. Not much other news, so sayonara (as usual)! 


	10. Chapter 8: Battle at the HQ part 2

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War 

Chapter 8: Battle at the H.Q. (part 2)

By Genoscythe

Disc: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING! ANYTHING!!! 

A.N: Not much to say, but this chapter is going slow.

* * *

V.R. was in the middle of a hallway when the shelling started. The first few shots were a dull rumble, obviously warning shots. Then they became louder and louder, until the whole base was rocking from the strain put on its shield. He cursed silently under his breath and hefted his large backpack onto his shoulder. He flew up several flights of stairs until he reached the observation deck, where other snipers were already positioned. The snipers, who were from unit 0, 14, 15, and 17, took a position near the rail and kept their guns trained on the enemy, occasionally firing if a maverick got too close. V.R. set up his sniper unit and leaned against the rail to get a better view of the situation.

The first things he saw were explosions. Hundreds upon hundreds of smoke clouds peppered the front line, where his friends were fighting. Their hunters were barely holding back the line of enemies, and it wouldn't be long before the hordes broke through and got to the H.Q. Near the cliffs, he saw hundreds upon hundreds of large green ships, slightly oval in shape. They were unloading mavericks as he thought. Daring to chance a shot at a ship, he fired, but the beam of energy never made it; it just disappeared. _Shield, _he thought. It was probably a D-05 type, which was strong enough to dissipate any energy attack. " Perfect," He muttered. " Just bloody perfect."

* * *

Blood. It showered over Drake as he desperately fired his assault rifle at a leaping mantis drone. He wiped the sticky red liquid from his eyes and searched for X within the turmoil. They had gotten separated several minutes into the fray. He knew that he was a very capable warrior, but he couldn't help but worry. Drake pulled a lever on the side of his large gun and switched from shotgun mode to burst mode. The shotgun barrel flipped over to lock into place on top of the gun, and a smaller nozzle slid out of a recession in the front of his gun. Unfortunately, while he was doing this, he didn't notice that the mantis drone had gotten up again, despite the gaping hole in its chest. He fell back and fired, but missed. It raised its arm, but in a moment, a piercing ray of light shot through the air, cleanly taking off the arm and its head. He could tell that it was a sniper shot. Drake turned towards the observation tower and waved. If he could have seen that far, then he would have noticed V.R. wave back.

He turned on his heels and dashed off into the fray, once again searching for X. Suddenly a flash of purple flew past him, followed closely by a maverick wielding a saber. The purple hunter turned, and Drake saw his- er, _her _face. Calliope held her saber out horizontally to counter the saber maverick. As predicted, it jumped into the air, and she suddenly brought her saber up almost too quickly for the eye to see. Soon, the maverick was missing two arms. Not about to give up, it rushed her and opened its skull-like mouth. Drake could see her fumble with something in her pouch, then he saw her hold out her hand. It tried to bite down, but it apparently missed. Drake couldn't see, but it had something in its mouth, because it began chewing. Suddenly, Calliope dashed forward at top speed. As she passed by his shoulder, she gave him one word of warning. " Run,"

Without waiting for another warning, Drake ran after her. Moments later, he heard an explosion, and part of the maverick's head landed right in his path. " Eww. That girl can sure kick some serious ass," He and Calliope made it to the back ranks, where fewer hunters were positioned. There were several crates of ammo on the ground, which some hunters were taking cover behind. After Calliope passed by one such crate and an azure armored hand shot out and grabbed her arm. She let out a small scream as she was pulled down behind the crate. X held her close to him, encircling a protective arm around her. She opened her mouth to yell at him. " X! What the he-" He put a finger to her lips and shook his head, signaling for her not to yell.

" Not so loud," He whispered. " It might hear you," She looked at him skeptically.

" What might hear me?"

" We don't know. We were heading out with some of the other team members when about fifty serrated tentacles sprung out of the ground and slaughtered all of our troops. Any loud movements or noises and it'll surely strike,"

" We?" She asked skeptically. X pointed to a figure hunched over behind him, which she could recognize as Commander Genoscythe.

" You," He said, giving her a curt wave before turning back to work on some equipment. Suddenly, Calliope realized something.

" Where's Drake?"

" I don't know. We got separated early on in the fight." X sighed.

" He was right behind me a moment ago. I can only assume he's still in the area…" Her voice trailed off when she heard a high pitched scream and the sound of slithering forms.

" Jesus fucking Christ!" Suddenly, Drake hurtled over the large stack of crates and cowered behind a set of boxes. He peeked out just enough to see his friends behind the boxes in front of him. He crawled over his crates and met up with his friends. " Where the HELL have you-" Megaman X cut him off and told him about the mysterious maverick hiding in the sand. " Right. So, first we have to get that thing out of the sand," Drake whispered. Genoscythe spoke up.

" Well, maybe we could blow it out with an explosive," He suggested. Calliope flashed a devilish smile. She pulled out a grenade from her pocket.

" Way ahead of you, commander," Roughly, she pulled the pin from its recession and hurled the bomb at where she thought the maverick was. Moments after the grenade detonated, there came a howl, and an odd creature flew out from under the sand. It began hovering ominously in the air, a good twenty meters from the ground. Whatever _it _was, it certainly wasn't what any of them had expected. X thought it could closest resemble a comically large cucumber, with a weird, spongy texture and flailing tentacle arms that slithered in and out of each other, weaving a sort of razor net. Drake actually had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. This was the terrifying creature that had them paralyzed with fear? Genoscythe knew better than to judge a book by its cover, however. He sprang from his crouch quicker than lightning, and he leapt the full twenty meters to come face to faceplate with the odd maverick. He hovered there silently, clenching his fists and closing his eyes. X turned to Calliope.

" I didn't know the commander had hover units," He whispered.

" He doesn't," She replied, who was still concentrating on the navy blue figure, which had begun to glow a dull red. The spongy maverick screeched and swung an arm at him. The bladed tentacle neared his head… then suddenly split in half! Genoscythe hadn't appeared to move a muscle, but there was a glint of purple blood on his golden arm blade. In an instant, the 17th's commander dashed forward and sent his fist straight into the maverick's face. It howled, and nearly all of its appendages flashed about him, ready to tear him apart. With a smirk, the reploid slowly grasped the scythe on his back. He pulled it out, but instead of slashing at the tentacles, he flung it straight into the sponge's body with enough force to tear through a small mountain. Suddenly, Genoscythe appeared behind it, catching his spinning weapon with ease. 

To his surprise, the maverick was not dead. It merely let off another howl and turned around. Its claws lashed out at him, and X was sure that he was done for, because his scythe was for medium range only. Again, he was proven wrong when Genoscythe grasped his scythe tightly and pulled the top off, igniting the bottom half into a beam saber. With a flick of his wrist, dozens of tentacles fell to the ground, squirming. He dashed forward and kicked it hard in the knee, shorting out its hover units. It gasped and fell into the dust and sand below. Like an enormous stone, he plummeted downward and extended his sharp armored foot. He impacted with the sponge and a series of snaps and cracks emitted from its body as its organs and joints were snapped and crushed. Genoscythe's foot went straight through it, for a moment later he hit dirt.

The maverick screamed and writhed for a few seconds before going totally limp. He walked over to his comrades and dusted off his hands. " What do you say we get going, huh? This time, let's try to stay together," He said calmly, as if his magnificent display was no work at all. They all sweatdropped at their commander. He simply shook his head and dashed off into the battle, with the others in close pursuit.

* * *

" Dr. Cain, the shield is nearly out of energy!" an operator yelled. Cain leaned on the briefing table for support. " What should we do?"

" We can't do anything. We just have to hope that our hunters-"

" Sir! The shield is out of energy! We're completely vulnerable to attack!" A panicked reploid said. Dr. Cain cursed under his breath.

" Dr. Cain, I detect a large projectile coming from one of the ships. Its trajectory is…" The operator trailed off. " The power generator!" He managed to gasp before the building began rocking violently and everything went completely black.

* * *

V.R. saw the missile coming from the moment it fired, but he just assumed that the H.Q.'s shield would last long enough. When it passed right through where the shield was supposed to be, he panicked. It seemed to be heading for the power generator, which was located about 60 feet from the observation tower where he now stood. He knew that he wouldn't last long up on the tower, exposed to the artillery. He turned around, leaving his heavy sniper rifle and backpack in the tower. As he dashed down the stairs and into the main building. Suddenly, an explosion rocked him off his feet and he went tumbling down the rest of the stairs as the lights went out. He groaned as he made an effort to stand. 

V.R. switched on a light on his helmet and began running down the corridor, not paying attention to the screams and cries of the other reploids in the building. There was one place in particular that he was trying to get to the hangar. If he could get a hover truck, then he might be able to save his friends on the front line. Finally, his light shone over a door labeled HANGAR. The electronic lock was out, so he had to resort to other means of opening the door. He swung a mighty fist at the door, instantly making it buckle and twist under the sudden force. The enormous hangar was also completely draped in shadow, but a small sliver of light could be seen at the opposite end. There was a hole in the hangar door! A small insectoid maverick was crouched on the ground in front of the hole, chewing on a piece of metal. 

VR slowly withdrew the two magnums he carried at his waist and aimed at the spider-like reploid. After two shots, it dropped dead. Unfortunately, a saber maverick from outside heard the shots and began cutting a hole in the hangar door. It burst through, a maniacal grin on its skeleton face. VR fired continuously at it, and it finally dropped to the ground and exploded, tearing a huge gash in the wall. Seeing as no more mavericks would be coming through, he walked over to a large hover truck. It was semi-rectangular in shape, with two large thrusters in the back and many smaller ones on the bottom to keep it afloat. The front was curved, with a blunt end and a small slit in the upper part for seeing. There were two doors on the side that lead to the passenger section and a round hatch on top for the driver and gunners cockpit. A single rotating gattling gun was placed in the rear top section, and there were two missile racks on the side behind either door. VR climbed a small ladder on the side and opened the hatch to the cockpit. He placed his hands on the two glowing panels and waited for his ID to be confirmed. " Driver approved. Begin synapse transfusion?" A calm computer voice asked him.

" Yes," He nodded. Suddenly, two metal shafts shot up out of the panels and latched onto his arms. He felt tiny prickles as the tiny wires inside the shafts connected with his nerve points and began feeding back data to the computer. He grasped two handles inside the synapse tracers. He pulled up on them and the old hover truck hummed to life. He let go of the handles, but the tracers stayed linked to his arms so they could continue feeding movement and reaction data to the computer. VR grasped the control handle next to the tracer system and pushed forward. The vehicle jolted forward and he flew out of the hangar and turned left to the battlefield, the tracer system telling the computer which way to go via his arm movements and the movements of the control handle.

* * *

AN: This happens right before the power went out.

Mobius was furious. There was almost no way they could stabilize Jett's system, and he was fading too quickly for them to remove the magnetic particles in his body. He had even tried to remove them manually by removing all of his organs that had been affected. Just in time, he realized that there were too many organs affected, and trying to remove them all would just kill him faster. The only thing that was keeping him alive was the energy generator that was pumping life into his combat armor. In a flash of light, everything went black. The lights, the computers, the life support systems, everything. Nurses and doctors cried out in fear and some of the conscious patients began wailing about nightmares. Mobius panicked, but only for a second, because then his night vision kicked in. " Shit," He said aloud. " The damn computers are off and now everyone's in a panic. Just my luck," He stood and grimaced for several seconds before cold realization began to sink in. His look changed to that of utter horror. " Oh my god," More than half of the patients needed the energy generators to live. The energy generators that were now off. He slowly slumped to his knees as the rough, labored breathing of the young maverick hunter Jett stopped completely.

End

AN: So, how did you like it? I AM THE KING OF DRAMA! OH YEEAAHH! Sorry, that's just the sugar high talking. This chapter came out so late because school has been murder and I've been studying my ass off. I also started to lose the will to write this story, but then I decided to finish something I started for once in my life. But really, if you want more quality work from me, you have to review once in a while. Hopefully I can actually get some advice, instead of ' yr story is kool lol!' or ' your summary sucks' or any of that crap. Please review! See ya later! 


	11. Chapter 9: The Proposition

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War 

Chapter 9: The Proposition

By Genoscythe

Disc: I'm having trouble thinking of more bitter and offensive ways to tell you that I DON"T OWN MEGAMAN X! 

A.N: Thank god, my will to write has returned! It's a bloody miracle. Now, with a whole new slew of music downloaded from Kazaa, so I'll have enough to entertain me while I continue with this. You can expect a new chapter about every 1-2 weeks now (or at least that's my goal). I don't need to tie things up with pointless blather, so enjoy!

* * *

X slammed against a wall, and Calliope fell to the ground about a meter away from him. She got up and backed up towards him. They were completely surrounded by a swarm of large mavericks, which attacked them and separated them from Drake and Genoscythe. They must have sensed what a danger the group had become and decided to finish them off two at a time. He could only hope that the other two were safe. Calliope's hand grabbed his, and squeezed it tightly. " I think we're done for," X murmured.

" You think?" She replied incredulously. He grimaced and held up his free left hand. It retracted into his buster arm and the tip of the X-buster replaced it. The mavericks had stopped, and now waited patiently for the hunters to try and attack. They knew that there was no way for them to get through, so they decided to bide their time as a sort of mockery of their predicament.

" I'm going to start blasting through the center of the group." He whispered to her. " When I've cleared a path, I want you to get out of here as fast as you can," She placed a hand on his shoulder and turned him to face her.

" That's it, then? What about you? I'm not going to leave you here, y'know." He put his hands on her shoulders.

" They've cornered us; they know that we can't both escape. My life isn't as important as-" She kicked him in the shin.

" Stop it, X." She hissed. " Stop acting like you're inferior to everyone and just try to save yourself for once! Did you ever think that I need you? I won't leave you no matter what. There are still so many obstacles left in my life, and I don't intend to get past them alone." His face brightened a bit and he took a long moment to consider her words. Tired of waiting, the mavericks began stirring and growling.

" Okay, you win," He grinned broadly at her. She took out her twin beam sabers, Aegis and Minos. " We won't be beaten by such an enemy, not now. Only until my life force is totally extinguished will I give up!" At the sound of his war cry, Calliope dashed forward and made a low swing at a gorilla type maverick's leg. It connected with the knee joint and the ape howled as it tumbled over, then she spun her saber gently as it took off its head. X fired off three rapid bursts of energy that quickly decimated a line of mantis drones. Two small spider mechs burst from the dead mantises and shot out a blast of sticky web that encased X's right arm. He shot it in the back, and it screeched as it collapsed. He swung the dead spider, still attached to his arm, at the other spider mech. He fired and swung the spider like a makeshift mace. Taking down another mantis and wounding a gorilla in the face, he turned to see how Calliope was doing. She was trying desperately to defend herself from three gorillas, but they overwhelmed her and she went flying backwards into X. He caught her, but their momentum carried them to the ground. As they struggled to get up, the mavericks crowded around them, ready for the killing blow. Suddenly, a dull rumble caught his ears. The mavericks apparently heard it, too because their heads turned and stared with fear. The smaller mavericks got out of the way, but the bigger, bulkier ones weren't so lucky.

A HT-4 hover truck flew by the two hunters, smashing hard into the mavericks and literally blowing them to pieces. X could barely see a head and arms poking out of the top hatch. " Get in you two!" VR yelled at the top of his lungs. X and Calliope wasted no time in dashing after the hover truck. He reached the door first, and was barely able to pull himself up. He clambered up into the small passenger compartment and turned back to see if Calliope had made it. She had almost caught up with the speeding hover truck, but she was exhausted from earlier battles and began lagging behind. He ran to the edge and held out a hand, which she grabbed. With all of his strength, he pulled her up onto the vehicle and held her close so she wouldn't fall. She began blushing from embarrassment, and from the fact that he was holding her so close to him. He looked down at her, barely able to conceal a blush on his own face.

" See? I told you we would make it out." She said indignantly.

" I don't recall this being a competition,"

" You should know; everything's a competition with me!"

" That explains a lot," They both began laughing at his remark, when VR spoke up on the intercom.

" I see them!" He said. Calliope was about to ask who, but then the hover truck jerked to the left violently, and X had to grab her again to keep her from flying out of the door.

" Maybe it would be a good idea to get _inside _the hover truck, hm?" X jokingly said to his female companion. Grumbling, she came inside with him and leaned against the wall. X poked his head outside for a second and saw Drake and Genoscythe fighting for their lives among a group of mavericks. VR turned around in his seat and looked through a small viewing slit into the passenger compartment.

" I need someone to operate the gun. Calliope, can you do it?" She shook her head.

" I can't aim," she explained. Without a word, X grabbed onto a ladder on the side of the vehicle. It was all he could do to fight against the g's while he climbed to the top. He opened the hatch to the cockpit and slid into the gunner's seat. He took hold of the controls, not bothering with the synapse tracer, and a small holographic viewscreen appeared in front of him. He pulled on the trigger and didn't let go. His eyes were fully trained on the enemies circling his friends. Bullets began to fly from the gattling gun on top, and the mavericks howled and screeched as they were torn apart by the hail of lead. Both of the hunters looked up in surprise at the hover truck that had just saved their lives. Suddenly, the hatch on top opened up and X came out and waved to them. They both made a dash for the moving truck. Calliope held out her hand to pull Genoscythe up, but he was somehow able to jump the full twenty-odd meters to the door and land gracefully next to his baffled companion.

Drake was having slightly less luck, though, and he began to fall behind of the large hovering vehicle. " Slow down, damn you!" He cursed loudly as he tried to latch onto the side ladder. He was just barely able to grab onto one rung with two fingers, and was able to pull the rest of himself up onto the ladder and eventually, into the hover truck. He looked at Calliope and Genoscythe with a look of utmost anger on his face. " For christ's sake, don't lend me a frickin' hand or anything!" He growled.

" Oh, you seemed to be doing quite well on your own," the tall commander said, barely able to stifle a laugh. Calliope couldn't contain herself though, and burst out into a fit of hysteria. 

" Come on Cal, my life was at stake! This is nothing to laugh about." He pouted. Genoscythe was trying hard not to fall victim to the hysteria that claimed the female. Drake sighed. " Why am I always the butt of jokes around here anyway?" he asked no one in particular. His musings were interrupted by the shrill call of X from the front compartment.

" Everyone hold onto something!" He yelled. Suddenly, the hover truck stopped at an impossibly abrupt halt. The three hunters in the back flew against the front wall from the sudden change in momentum. X opened the hatch on top of the vehicle to get a better look. There stood a maverick, dressed completely in purple, with a wicked grin on his face. The other hunters got out of the hover truck to see what X gladly would not have wanted to see. He pulled himself all of the way out of the hover vehicle and jumped to the ground next to Calliope and the others, with VR close behind. The maverick kept on grinning its Cheshire-like grin, then finally spoke.

" Ah, I assume you are Megaman X and company?" He said the words so fast that X had trouble understanding what he was saying. " I think that I may have an interesting proposition for you." He continued. " My name is Agile, and these are my companions Serges and Violen." He swept his hand outward, and suddenly the hunters felt the presence of two other life forms nearby. They were behind the hunters, one was large and yellow, with a huge wrecking ball on its back and very tiny feet, and the other was a short old man wearing a cape.

" Impossible! How could they sneak up on us like that!?" Genoscythe gasped.

" We are, as you may call us, X Hunters." Serges spoke up. " And we have a deal that we would like to make with you, Megaman X."

" You can shove your offer." X retorted. " I don't make deals with fanatics. They tend to break their word all too often,"

" Oh, but I think you will like this proposition, my dear azure hunter. We have all of Zero's main components, and if you want them, then you must fight each of us to win back his parts. If you lose to any of us, then we get Zero's control chip. If you attempt to go back on the deal, we will crush his parts and you will never see the likes of your friend again." It was too hard to digest at once. X's stomach churned at the thought of bringing back his old best friend. Zero had been like a father to him, and more importantly, a companion. He would give anything to get Zero back.

" As an added bonus," Agile continued. " If you agree to our terms, then I will call off all of our troops and we shall leave you alone for the moment." Genoscythe considered his words for a moment, then responded.

" X agrees,"

" Wait a minute, doesn't X get any say in this?" Calliope asked angrily. " It's his decision, whether you're our commander or-" X turned around and put a hand on her shoulder.

" It's okay, Cal. I agree to their terms." She looked pleadingly into his eyes, begging him to reconsider. " It's the only way to bring back Zero," Tears were starting to form in her comrade's eyes. He gave her a look that told her that they would discuss things later. He turned back to the X hunter.

" Hey, we agreed to your goddamn terms, so call off that damned army!" Drake sputtered furiously. Suddenly, Agile snapped his fingers and all of the mavericks went silent. Within moments, the vile creatures were almost fully loaded into their ships, artillery and all. The hunters were far too battered to keep attacking, so they resignedly let the hordes escape. As Agile boarded the last plane, he turned back to X with his ever-present grin.

" Don't forget our deal," Those were the last words he spoke as the last giant transport lifted off and flew away into the setting sun.

End

AN: Wow, romance, drama, action, profanity and suspense all rolled into one package! I think I'm finally getting the hang of this fanfiction thingy. Big big thanks to Annihilation Strife for giving me such great reviews and restoring my will to write. For the rest of you who didn't like my story and/or didn't even bother to read it, you don't know what you're missing. I'd better pack it up and be off to bed, so I'll see everyone later! 


	12. Chapter 10: Back to the Campaign

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War 

Chapter 10: Back to the Campaign

By Genoscythe

Disc: Is it really worth it for ANYONE to sue me over a stupid disclaimer? I mean, who would actually put the time and effort into winning a lawsuit which could go on for months and months. Besides, Capcom's so dirty freaking rich that they wouldn't even need the money. 

A.N: Things are slowing down again, but not too much. In this chapter Drake and a few others of the 17th join with the 15th to destroy the occupied greenhouse, so you'll get to see my new maverick in a little bit. Woo hoo! Ahem… on with the show.

* * *

The walls of Maverick Hunter HQ were torn and the floors were strewn with glass from shattered windows or light fixtures. Still, that did not slow down Genoscythe in the least as he walked swiftly into the command center. It was pitch black, save the tiny beams of light coming from several cracks in the wall. The commander mentally adjusted the brightness of his eyes so he could better view the scene before him. In the center, Dr. Cain lay motionless on the floor, with a small amount of blood trickling from his forehead. He walked over to the doctor's body and put a gloved hand to his chest; to his relief he was still breathing.

His eyes flicked across the room, and he spotted Commander Briggs picking himself up from the ground. He walked briskly over to the wounded commander and waited patiently for him to get up. In a few moments, he rose and faced the red eyed commander. " What happened? Why did they stop?" He asked while rubbing his right arm, which was bent at an odd angle.

" We have a new problem on our hands, or rather X's hands." He quickly explained all that had happened outside on the battlefield. Briggs made a frown, then grimaced at his injured arm.

" They're probably lying. I wouldn't let him go if I were you."

" Yeah, well you aren't me. I have great faith in X's abilities, and so should you. After all, you were in the First Maverick War, weren't you?" Briggs frowned again.

" That's exactly why we can't let him go. We need him alive in case of another emergency."

" This _is _a goddamn emergency!" Genoscythe was losing his patience now. Briggs seemed to rethink things for a moment.

" Okay, you win. He's only allowed to go if we send him plenty of backup, though." He managed to stand up and leaned on the wall for support. Genoscythe turned to leave, but then remembered another question he had for the 15th's commander.

" Hey Briggs, didn't we send units through the underwater passage to take the mavericks from behind?" he nodded. " Then how come they never got there?" Now his eyes widened.

" What are you talking about?"

" The surprise attack team never got there. As in they weren't there at all. As in the sneak attack never happened. As in-" Briggs cut him off.

" Okay, I get the idea. I'll send another team down to investigate."

" You do that." Genoscythe said as he walked out of the room and down the hall. 

* * *

'Will this war never end?' This was a question that X found himself asking frequently. He was starting to think that the war never would end; that reploids would keep turning on the humans until the hunters were unable to stop it. All he knew was that he would keep on fighting until he could fight no longer, and he still desperately prayed that one-day he could stop fighting. He even knew exactly where he would go once the fighting stopped. X pulled out a picture from his pocket; one he and Zero had taken while flying a patrol on a helicopter. It was a small forest on the outskirts of the city, with beautiful evergreen trees and lush grass. In the picture, he could see several animals through the trees. Near the edge of the forest was a small hill that flanked a beautiful clearing bathed in sunlight. Zero had called it 'The Last Forest', which wasn't too hard to believe, since almost all trees on the earth were either cut down or mechanically altered in some way. It was so bad that humans had to build oxygen-producing factories to sustain their atmosphere.

X stared at the picture longingly, then heard soft footsteps behind him. He whirled around and came face to face with Calliope. She smiled at him sweetly. " What were you looking at?" She asked.

" Uh… nothing! Nothing at all." He tried to stuff the photo back into his pocket but she was too fast, and grabbed it from his hand. She stared in blank amazement at the picture of beauty.

" Wow… this is amazing… where did you get this, X?"

" I, uh…" There was no point in hiding it now. " Zero and I were doing an aerial patrol of that area, and we happened to pass over that spot. Since we had some photographic equipment on board, I couldn't resist taking a picture." She smiled at him again.

" Do you remember where it is?" She asked with an air of curiosity in her voice. He nodded. " Great! Do you think you could take me there sometime? I've never seen a real forest before." She stared in bewilderment at the picture once more; shivering as the cold ocean air whipped her hair around her angelic face. She stepped closer to him and watched the sun set as they stood on the edge of the cliffs near the HQ. He folded his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. He returned her warm smile.

" Yeah, I think I can do that," He said softly.

* * *

Never tiring, Genoscythe was quickly able to track down Drake and VR, who were in the arcade in the back of the HQ, which was miraculously undamaged. He found VR resting peacefully in a chair; apparently he had been watching Drake play an old classic: Virtua Fighter 6. He was not in such a comfortable position, however. Drake had fallen asleep on the machine, his right hand still gripping a levitating joystick. On the screen, it said GAME OVER in flashy, seizure inducing letters. Apparently, he had just fallen asleep recently.

Not wanting to disturb the lad too badly from his sleep, Genoscythe kicked him in the shin and he toppled backwards, pulling the joystick with him. He groaned, shifted, and…fell back asleep. " Why is _everyone _trying my patience today?" He asked nobody. With a twist, his fist shot out and hit the arcade machine squarely in the center, sending it flying back into the wall, and setting off an ear-piercing alarm. VR shot bolt upright and pulled out his magnums, his reactive shots barely missing his commander's head. Drake was much slower to react, but still got up, his ears ringing.

" Jesus Christ, why'd ya do that?" He yelled over the cacophony.

" Because," Genoscythe began to reply, but then punched the machine again to make the noise stop. " You fell asleep on top of the console." Drake wiped spit from his mouth.

" Okay, okay, I get the idea. So wassup commander?"

" 'Wassup' indeed. While you were lying stoned on top of that machine, we were trying to make sense of all of this chaos. When we lost the power, all of the machines in the medical bay turned off, killing every single patient there." They both gasped, and for once, Drake couldn't think of a powerful enough swear to say.

" Are you sure all of them are dead? VR asked softly.

" Yes. Even the ones that weren't dependent on life preserving machines. They were all found with gaping holes or claw marks in them. To make matters worse, Mobius is nowhere to be seen." Genoscythe knew that this was a crushing blow to Mobius's already unstable psyche, and he feared that his disappearance and the death of the remaining patients were connected. He looked to Drake.

" Get up. We still have a campaign to continue, along with basic repairs. I trust you're up to the job?" He asked. The black haired reploid gave a cocky smile.

" Of course. You ain't gonna find a more capable pair of reploids than us, right VR?" The stoic reploid nodded.

" I shall help repair the power generator with the other techs." He said. Genoscythe raised an eyebrow, though nobody could see it due to his faceplate.

" What other techs?"

* * *

Drake spent well over an hour looking for X, but he was nowhere to be found. He could swear that he looked through every nook and cranny, but neither he nor his female friend could be located. Finally, he met up with Genoscythe and told him the situation. With a chuckle, the commander simply pointed outside. Drake banged his head on the wall for his ignorance. He quickly crossed the barren expanse between the base and the cliffs.

There, lying on his back, was Megaman X, with Calliope nestled in his arm. Drake smiled to himself. _Today musta been too hard on 'em _He thought. Then he remembered how he had fallen asleep on the arcade machine and frowned. He bent down and put his mouth next to his ear. He didn't want to startle X, so he spoke as quietly as he could. " HEY LOVER BOY! WE GOT WORK TO DO!" He shot up like an arrow, almost hitting his companion on the head. Calliope shifted and rolled off of him, giving off a big yawn. X looked around at his surroundings and swore under his breath.

" What, you thought we'd let you freeze out here in the cold?" Drake asked with a mock hurt expression. X's eyes narrowed.

" Since when have you cared about _anyone's _health?"

"…Okay, I was just kidding about that. Genoscythe wants you losers to help repair the HQ. There'll be time for sleep later." Calliope groaned and reluctantly sat up. X helped her to her feet and they began walking back to the HQ. On the way, Drake informed the two of their current situation, from Mobius's disappearance to the missing unit in the tunnels.

" So that's why those units never gave us any backup," Calliope said. " Hasn't HQ sent anyone down to find out what happened?"

" Commander said they sent Mac down to check it out, the poor fella." Drake replied. Everyone knew that Mac was claustrophobic, which made them all wonder why they sent him down to find the missing unit.

* * *

" I swear, HQ will _never _hear the end of this," Mac grumbled as he squeezed through the incredibly small tunnel under the building. " If I were a maverick, I'd kill every last one of 'em." He muttered before hitting his green visor on the hard rock ceiling. " OWWW!! Freaking bloody hell!" He yelped while rubbing his head. His foot slipped and he gave another cry as he fell backward onto the slippery rocks. Unfortunately for him, he kept sliding down the tunnel. He tried to grab onto a rock, but he missed and slid down even farther. Mac got quite a surprise when he bumped into something soft. Trembling, he propped himself up to a sitting position to see what had stopped him. It was a corpse. Mac let out the girliest scream he could muster.

The body had no head, and the chest was torn apart through to the rib cage. It was missing an arm and both legs, but Mac could tell that he was a maverick hunter by his suit. Judging from the emblem on his shoulder plate, he was from the 15th Rookie Hunter Division. When Mac got some of his courage back, he looked over the corpse and got an even bigger treat. There was a huge reploid crab latched onto the hunter's other arm. After closer examination, though, he found that it was dead. It had only one pincer and there was a large hole in its chest. Its green eyes were now dark and uncolored, signaling that the reploid was either dead or dying.

Suddenly, Mac knew who it was. It was Bublos, a member of the 6th Marine Hunter Division. Months ago, he had gone maverick and fled the HQ. Nobody knew where he had gone, but they had feared that he had joined with the maverick's main forces. Apparently, they were correct. Fear-stricken, Mac desperately tried to climb up the steep wall, but it was too slippery. He screamed for all he was worth, trying to get the attention of the hunters above. Finally, he gave up and sat down with his back against the corpse. " Why me?" He muttered. " Why do you always have to pick on ME?" Suddenly, he began to hear faint voices above.

" Now he's talking to himself. That sounds pretty crazy to me," One voice said.

" Ya gotta understand how claustrophobic this guy is. 'Sides, we don't know what's down there yet." Another voice argued. Mac could barely see shapes in the tunnel above. It appeared that they were climbing down on ropes. He began to wave to them and they came to him shortly. " Mac!" One of them yelled down. " What the hell are you doing now?"

" What do you mean? I just slipped and fell."

" Doofus! Why weren't you holding a rope like you were told to?"

" A…rope…huh?" Mac was getting very confused. He couldn't remember anyone giving him a rope. He just remembered a big pile of ropes near the entrance to the caverns… " Damn it!!!" He yelled as he stomped his foot on the ground. One of the hunters sighed.

" C'mon, let's get you back up so we can report this to Cain."

* * *

Several days later, X and Calliope had been assigned to repairing the observation tower with a few others in the 17th. They were both welding together some of the framework when an idea came into X's head. " Hey, Cal. Did you mean it when you said that you needed me, back when we were trapped by those mavericks?" She gave him a hard stare.

" Of course I did! Why would you think otherwise?" She asked.

" I dunno, I guess I was just… unsure." He said, trying to think of an explanation.

" Unsure of what?" She cocked her head to the side. He shook his head.

" Nothing… just forget it." He said. She gave him a worried expression. Calliope could tell that he had been under plenty of stress since the maverick uprising. If there was anything she could do, it was relieve stress.

" I think you need to relax, X." She said coolly. " I know of a great place for us to get away from all of this." She swept her hand out across the base, indicating the ruins of Maverick Hunter HQ. X also noticed that she said 'us' instead of 'you'. However, he didn't hesitate to respond.

" Alright, I think we deserved a night of rest anyway." He stretched his arms. " What place?" He asked.

" That, is a secret." She said tauntingly.

" Great, just when I get a lucky break, something like this happens." He grumbled.

" C'mon, it'll be fun!"

" How do I know that? For all I know, you're really a maverick in disguise and you're going to take me away to their fortress so they can torture me to death."

" Relax, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Besides, you're going with me, so it'll be fun no matter where we go!" She said cheerfully.

" Oh really?" He cocked an eyebrow playfully. She pouted and put her hands on her hips, trying to look mean.

" What, so you're saying that I'm not a fun person to hang out with?"

" No, I just seem to recall a certain brown haired hunter trying to strangle someone the last time we were out together."

" That was totally in self defense! If I hadn't distracted that bug, then you would have been blue paste."

" I would not. I had that situation totally under control."

" Would too,"

" Would not,"

" Would too,"

" Would not,"

" Would too,"

" I feel like I'm talking to a child."

" What's that supposed to mean, pretty boy?" She asked, raising a fist at him.

" Nothing, just forget it." He waved his hands at her in a disarming fashion. " So… should I meet you…"

" Thursday outside the building, eight 'o clock sharp." She said quickly.

" Wow, you really thought this out, didn't you?" He asked. She blushed and nodded her head.

" Date, then."

" Yeah, date."

* * *

" How the HELL did I get roped into this?" Drake asked himself as he and the rest of the team pushed through the thick jungle of the Botanical Observation Lab, better known as the 'Greenhouse'. The huge, curved dome stretched over three kilometers wide and one kilometer high, entirely filled with all sorts of jungles, forests and plants. Recently, though, it had also become filled with wildlife. All of the hunters were on edge, every twitch of a bush made someone jump.

Carter, a newbie in the 15th Rookie Hunter Division, was in the back of the group when he spotted something in the bushes. He couldn't make it out, but he assumed it was a maverick. He thought of calling his comrades, but he wanted to kill this one by himself to gain the recognition he deserved. Carter saw the bushes stir a little way to the right, so he ran after it. Suddenly, the rustling stopped. He stood there, staring at the spot where the bush had moved. Then, he fired a shot from his shotgun. Nothing. He fired again. Nothing. Suddenly, he saw a flash of jaws, then he felt nothing at all.

End

AN: Yes, after all this time, I'm still working on this story. I can't believe I almost made 8 pages with this chapter… that explains why it took so long. Anyway, there isn't'much else to report, so I'll be off then. 


	13. Chapter ll: Raptors, Parasites and Love

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War 

Chapter 11: Part 1: Raptors, Parasites, and Love

By Genoscythe

Disc: I don't own blah, okay?

A.N: I need to make a huge apology to all of my fans. My birthday has come and went, so I was plenty busy with dealing with all of that business. But anyhow, Christmas vacation is here (Yay) so I'll have enough time to get through this chapter and on with the story. Also know that, unless I specifically say so, this story will not be discontinued and I'll keep writing it until I'm done. Kudos to Annihilation Strife for your continued support. 

* * *

Drake's group had doubled back when they heard gunshots from the foliage. Now, they stared into the mass of green in front of them with renewed curiosity. Briggs, who was leading the group, gave a few hunting calls, but still no reply. After taking roll, they discovered that Carter the Newbie was missing.

" Of all the… and this is his first mission, too!" Briggs yelled in frustration. He took out his sub machine gun and hit it against a tree angrily. As if in response to his attack, the jungle seemed to open up and a claw darted out and grabbed a hunter. Several of the reploids screamed as two more claws grabbed them.

" Shit! It's a trap! They've got the advantage here, so open up on my mark." Briggs instructed his troops. Unfortunately, nobody was paying him the least bit of attention, and they all began firing into the thick jungle. Only Drake and a few other experienced fighters began to run for it. He, Commander Briggs, and three others ran through the foliage to what they thought was safety.

***

Within minutes, they made it to a large clearing bathed in moonlight. The canopy covered part of the sky, so the cracks of moonlight came through in ghostly spotlights. The five hunters stopped in the middle to take a breath. By then, the sounds of battle had completely stopped, and the hunters were ready to expect the worst. What they didn't expect, however, were to see three badly wounded hunters hobbling towards them through the thicket. 

" We beat them off," The lead one said. Briggs squinted at the reploid. His voice had an unnatural tone, and his words were slurred. What was more amazing though, was that the man had no eyes. Suddenly, Briggs shot up and shouted to his companions.

" Parasites!" He hissed. Parasites were one of the few well-known mavericks, largely due to their brutality and rarity on the battlefield. They were small creatures, about the size of an eye socket, with four legs and one large, mechanical eye in the front. When they find a wounded enemy, they gouge out the eyes and worm their way into the skull from there. They have little nodes along their body that are used to connect to the crucial nervous systems in a victim's body. After dislodging the brain, two Parasites enter the cranium while a third sits in an eye socket and tells the other two where to go via high-frequency sound waves. 

Once the Parasites have gone where they want to go, they inject the body with a highly flammable mutagen. Then, they purposely overload themselves and catch fire, thus blowing the body and most anything around it to pieces. Now, Briggs and the others rose, weapons ready to tear apart the unwelcome visitors. A hail of bullets and laser beams brought down the would-be intruders without much trouble.

" Wow," Drake gasped, inspecting the fallen bodies. " Why the hell did they bring Parasites all the way out here? What could a tiny greenhouse like this have that's worth protecting so badly?"

" Territory." Briggs stated. " Those bastards are trying to gain as much ground as they can so they can build up their forces." Suddenly his expression became quizzical. " Maybe it's something else. Some sort of new weapon, perhaps?" Before he could finish his musings, though, the thicket opened up again and _something _rushed out of it, but it was going too fast to see. It rushed at the nearest hunter and brought a claw to his throat. Gouts of blood washed over the creature's face, and it stopped for just a moment. It had a long reptilian face, much like that of the ancient dinosaurs. It stood upright on clawed feet encased in shimmering black leg braces, with its upper body slightly hunched. The claws on its hands were terrifyingly long and sharp. They were now drenched in blood.

Commander Briggs yelled and fired his sub machine gun at it, but it was blindingly fast, and it leapt out of the way. The raptor tore across the distance between him and the commander in the blink of an eye. It bit down on Briggs's gun, snapping the casing with its lethal jaws. He dropped the broken weapon and took a step back, his hand quaking in fear, his men doing the same. As soon as the raptor had stopped its rush, five more appeared by its side with scimitars and halberds. They were all smaller and lighter colored, while the leader was darker and more foreboding. The leader stepped forward now and flicked its lithe tail in Briggs's direction.

" You. Your name." It spoke in a gravel-like tone. Briggs stood defiantly, though he was slightly trembling.

" What's it worth to a maverick like you?" He spat. In an instant, the raptor jumped through the air and brought its claws down on his shoulder. Just at the last second, it curled its claws before it cut off his shoulder and caught on his flak vest. The maverick pulled him so close that he could smell the beast's acidic breath.

" Which do you think is more important, your name or your life?" It snarled at him. Drake saw Briggs cringe and ball his fist.

" C- Commander Briggs W-Wilson of t-the Fifteenth Rookie Maverick D-Division." He managed to stammer. _So, _Drake thought,_ Briggs is a coward after all._

"Good," it said harshly. " You are now in captivity of the 127th Reptilian Strike Force of the Purifier army. My name is Velocity Raptor, and if you do not obey me…" Suddenly, one of the raptors disappeared. A moment later, one of the hunters was impaled on a long, serrated spear held by the smaller raptor. " I do hope that you cooperate."

* * *

3 days later…

Megaman X was trying as best he could to prepare for the date, but so far it had been a nightmare. He had decided to buy flowers for Calliope, but he didn't know what to get her. He ended up just buying her some sunflowers. Later, he discovered that they were fake, and he had paid full price for them! Angered, he threw away the pseudo-flowers and skipped ahead to clothing. He had no idea where they were going, so he had quite a bit of trouble deciding how to dress. Finally, after much debating, he went and got a plaid button-up shirt with a small, cheesy bow tie and matching long pants. Anyone looking at him would have thought him mentally disabled. 

And now, to top it all off, right as X was finishing buttoning up his shirt, klaxons began blaring outside in the hall. Angrily, he slammed down his bow tie on the modest dressing table Cain had bought for him some time ago. He undressed and got into his uniform, then headed to the main briefing room.

The briefing room was located just east of the indoor courtyard. It was approximately 23 meters high and 40 meters long, large enough to house almost the entire Maverick Hunter population. Rows upon rows of seats filled the floor and were separated into isles designated by unit numbers. The room itself was mostly barren, with the same metallic blue hue on the walls and ceiling. The floor was covered with a fine red rug. On the wall opposite the door, there was a huge video screen where important images were displayed. Below it was a podium, where the division commanders were now standing. Genoscythe, Magus, the leader of Special Unit 0, Fathom, leader of the 6th Naval Division, Corsair, leader of the 7th Air Force Division, and Dragoon, leader of the 14th Melee Hunter Division. Dr. Cain stood at the podium on a raised pedestal and cleared his throat to address the assembled Maverick Hunters.

X barely made it to the 17th's designated section before his grandfather began to speak. The only space left was on the end, and as luck would have it, VR was sitting next to it. He imagined that the other hunters were intimidated (and even a bit frightened) by his calm, emotionless manner and reclusive nature. People tended to relocate themselves once VR was around. But X was beginning to like the new hunter. Somehow, he knew there was more to him than meets the eye, and he treated him like so.

" As you all know," Dr. Cain began. " Three days ago, we sent a team of hunters to investigate a possible maverick infestation within the Botanical Observation Lab. They have not reported back since." Several murmurs went up from the crowd, mostly concerning why they sent rookies in to do the job. X went pale. Drake was in that group! Next to him, VR softly uttered, "Drake…"

" Now, I'm sure most of you are wondering why we've called you here like this." Magus, who was clad in black and red samurai style armor, said. " Yesterday, we picked up a strange radio signal that we couldn't quite decipher. It was coming from the BOL." Suddenly, the screen in the back lit up, showing an incredible image. It showed the BOL, but the Environmental Stabilizer was open at the top. There was an incredible beam of raw, red energy shooting from the hole into the sky. If one looked high enough at the still picture, one could see that the clouds overhead were disintegrating. Oohs and aahs were rising from the gathered hunters.

" Early this morning we lost contact with our IT (Instant Transit) satellite. We believe this beam phenomenon to be the cause of it. As you all know, without the satellite, Instant Transit will be impossible, so until we get another ITS up there, we're gonna need to use vehicles." Genoscythe said.

" With what we've seen so far, we think there's something very valuable in that greenhouse." Dragoon spoke up, tapping his long neo titanium claws on the podium. " We're assigning all of the 17th and half of the 14th to storm the occupied facility. We don't know how long it will be until this threat becomes serious, so all assigned hunters must scramble immediately!"

X sighed. _There goes any hope of having our date tonight. _Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder. VR was standing next to him, looking down at him. " Meet me at hover truck N-14 after you get your combat armor on." said he. X was about to protest, but VR cut him off. " No questions, just go!" With that, X sprinted off toward the armory.

***

Twenty-five minutes later, X arrived at hangar N, where VR and Calliope were waiting by vehicle N-14. Immediately, he started barraging them with a myriad of questions. " What's going on here? The rest of the strike force is in hangar D! You aren't thinking of disobeying the commanders' orders, are you?" Calliope just shook her head.

" I'm sorry we didn't tell you about this sooner, X, but there just wasn't enough time. VR knew something was wrong after three days, and he told me that he wanted to investigate for himself. I said that I couldn't bear to miss out on any action, so he decided to take me along."

" Reluctantly." VR added. "Those troop carriers are far too slow. If Drake is still alive, we would have a better chance of finding him if we traveled lightly." X shook his head.

" I guess you're right, but I still don't see how three hunters can get into that place when a whole team couldn't even make it out." Calliope laughed.

" C'mon, we're the best of the best! We shouldn't have much of a problem, should we?"

" Hurry, we're wasting precious seconds! Get in!" VR exclaimed. The two hunters complied, climbing into the swift hover vehicle. He climbed into the cockpit and started the initiation process.

***

Across the stretch of hangars, Genoscythe stood before the 17th division, who were neatly assembled within one of the large troop carriers in hangar D. The pilot was almost prepped for launch, when suddenly the emergency com system came on. " Unauthorized activation in hangar N! Unauthorized activation of unit N-14!" A calm computerized female voice said. In an instant, Genoscythe jumped out of the vehicle and stormed over to a security monitor on the wall. He typed in the security code for the N docking bay on a small keypad under the monitor. The screen flashed, and suddenly it showed what the security camera at N was seeing. The door was open on N-14, and he could see two hunters in the passenger area. He undoubtedly recognized them.

Genoscythe sighed. _They don't know what they're getting into… _he thought. Suddenly, the door slammed shut and the hover truck began to rise into the air. The hangar bay opened, and then they were out in the open air, nearly flying across the semi-arid wasteland that surrounded the HQ. " Damn it, they're insane." He muttered. He stormed back into the transport and opened the door to the cockpit. The pilot turned around in his seat.

" Almost ready, sir." the pilot said.

" Good, because we're going to follow them" 

End


	14. Chapter 12: Countdown to Destruction

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War 

Chapter 12: Countdown to Destruction

By Genoscythe

Disc: I pity da foo who thinks I own Megaman X

_Dark. And cold, and damp._ These were the things Drake knew he felt. The rest was hazy. For the past three days, he had been so beat up, drugged up, and tortured that he could barely think. His armor and weapon had been taken away, and by now his purple uniform had been so torn up and ruined that there was no point in wearing it. His flesh was raw from burns and whippings, and his system was telling him that he needed food and alcohol, quickly.

Despite all this, he hadn't told them anything. They repeatedly questioned him about the Maverick Hunters, but he didn't leak out a word of information. Then again, he didn't have much to leak out in the first place. Suddenly, the door of their dark, wet cell slid open and one of the reptilian guards stood holding a figure. He barely managed to prop himself up when it threw Briggs into the cell they were kept in. Briggs landed in a puddle of liquid, moaning in protest. The guard slammed the gate shut again, and all was silent. For a time, neither said anything. " I… I can't take this" Briggs croaked. Drake said nothing. Straining, Briggs reached into one of his pockets and took out a bottle of cyanide he had concealed from the guards.

" Not…yet" Drake whispered. " We still have a chance"

" Do we?" Briggs said, his voice shrill. " Do you really think… we can escape… on our own? Two men… have died from torture… already. These mavericks… are ruthless… we have no weapons. In this state…"

" I'm not talking… about us, jackass. The Hunters will come… my friends will… find a way."

" I'm glad… you're so optimistic." Suddenly, Briggs sat up straight, growling. " I almost cracked today! I almost told them… told them the access codes… for the MHHQ network. I'm not built…built for this…" His voice trailed off and he buried his head in his hands. He began weeping softly, and Drake muttered "wimp."

* * *

Three blocks from the city's edge, the BOL stood, sun glinting off the large hexiglass dome over it. Who knew what horrors were being kept in it, other than the wretched Mavericks that lay inside. Megaman X looked it over with a telescope attached to the wall of the swift N-14 Hover Vehicle Unit. There were no exterior gun emplacements, no guards of any kind. This was what he was afraid of. There had to be some reason that there were no defenses set up. Calliope was typing away furiously at a computer console on the opposite side of the passenger compartment. She was scanning the building for any abnormal energy frequencies like shields or gravity mines.

She was doing a final scan when she yelled out. " They've got an energy field one block in front of us!"

" What type is it?" VR asked calmly from the driver's cockpit. She took a few seconds for the scanner to analyze it.

" It's a PL-12!" The PL-12 model pulse shield was known as a shield specially designed to prevent sieges and large assaults. It was capable of jamming any electronic device, including reploids if they weren't careful. It was also strong enough to disintegrate any known kind of metal within seconds, making bullets and most vehicles useless against it.

Instead of replying, VR pushed the throttle all the way, and his two passengers were thrown back in their seats. He turned on the autopilot and opened the door connecting the passenger and pilot sections. X moved over next to Calliope and VR sat where X was and grabbed onto a handrail on the ceiling. " Brace yourself!" He yelled. X barely heard him through the howl of the wind through the window. " When we hit the shield, jump!" He shouted. X gripped Calliope's hand tightly, and she returned the gesture. She looked at the monitor next to her. The computer was calculating the distance between them and the shield. 400m…250m…100m…10m…impact.

The entire front of the vehicle seemed to shatter like glass; the sound of wrenching metal was deafening. Somehow, the hover truck kept going through the shield, even though the outside hull was fast disintegrating. The three hunters jumped, and the momentum of the N-14 sent them flying through the air, past the shield. They landed on a patch of bushes several meters away. When they got up, there was virtually nothing left of the hover vehicle.

The three hunters looked across the large expanse of jungle in front of them. It was going to be a long hike, and it looked easy to get sidetracked in there. X and VR began arguing about the route they should take, when suddenly, Calliope had an idea. " Why don't we just go straight and hope we find the compound? It must be in the center, so if we keep going forward, we'll have to reach it sometime." They both agreed, and the three sprinted off into the foliage at top speed. 

* * *

It was a little after noon at the central compound which was guarded by eight defense towers fitted with turbolasers on top. To catch trespassers off guard, these cannons were camouflaged by a highly reflective coating that reflected its surroundings, with only a minimal fluctuation. A large generator underground some meters away, which connected to all of the turrets, powered this function. Three raptor sentries sat atop each guard tower, ready to jump down at a moment's notice. They were told to be on edge after the small attack three days ago, and nobody wanted to take any chances letting what was inside the compound fall into the Hunter's hands. Their secret weapon could make or break this guerilla war.

Suddenly, a sentry's head snapped right. It looked deeply into the foliage, but could see nothing. It had heard a soft thump, like a footstep. Its well-attuned ears could hear every sound like it was seeing it, and its head moved a few meters to the right. It could still see nothing, but the sounds were coming closer. Then, it saw something blue move in the foliage. It opened its mouth to sound an alarm cry, but no sound came out. When it looked down, there was a ragged hole torn through its chest. It fell to the ground, dead, and its killer stepped out of the bushes to the left of its field of vision, holding a sniper rifle.

The other sentries heard the death of their comrade, and they rushed over to their fallen ally, only to be dispatched by two more silent shots. Three forms rushed out of the bushes, not expecting the invisible guard tower to begin shooting lasers at them! A red bolt fired from the top of the guard tower and ripped apart the ground right in front of them, and they fell back, retreating to the bushes again.

***

"Damn it, what was that?" Calliope asked no one in particular. X shook his head, clutching his chest. His chest plate was dented in the center where a large rock had fallen on him after the blast. VR reloaded his sniper rifle and flipped on one of his special visors. It was specially designed to pick up frequencies emitted by camouflage devices. The feedback he got was faint, but there was definitely something there that wasn't meant to be seen. 

" There's something there, but I can't tell what." He did a more thorough scan, then overlapped it with the previous scan to try and piece together what it was. " It appears to be some kind of turret. I can only assume there are more around the compound, so our best bet is to take out the one here and find an entrance before the guards can locate us."

" Is that all?" Calliope asked sarcastically.

" Yes, it is." VR said, completely missing the point. " I only have five energy shells left for my sniper buster, but I can try and find a weak point on it." He sighed. " Although, chances of success are improbable." X slammed his fist on the ground, gripping the dirt hard with his gloved hand.

" This is taking too freaking long! He could be dead by now!" Angrily, he grabbed a coconut that had fallen from a tree and chucked it at the tower. Since he could not see it, the coconut flew far to the right of the cloaked tower, but the turret detected movement, and it turned to fire at the hard projectile. If by sheer skill, pure luck, or fate, the turret's shot disintegrated the coconut and flew off into the forest, directly at the turret's power generator. An explosion shook the ground beneath the three hunters' feet, and suddenly they could see an immense tower in front of them with a large, two-barreled plasma turret on top of it. Others began appearing around the compound, and the three hunters stared in blank amazement.

VR patted X on the back. " Nice work, my friend. Now, we must get inside." Calliope leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

" I always knew you were good for something." She said to him. He just smiled at her. They sprinted forward and began to search for an entrance. They were halfway across the clearing when they heard an inhuman screech. Four sentries leapt from a catwalk on the side of the 'L' shaped compound, holding electrically charged spears. VR reacted instantly, raising his sniper buster at the creatures. He fired, and blew one into pieces in midair, while another landed in front of Calliope, jabbing with its spear. Had the woman not been prepared to duck, she would have been impaled, but she was already sliding to the ground as the maverick landed. Aegis came up, slicing the spear in two, while Minos was thrust up at an angle, gouging into the raptor's chest cavity.

X raised his buster and fired three shots, all of which missed, and the raptor he was firing at landed in front of him, tapping the spear against his buster arm. An explosion of static pain surged up his arm and he leapt backward to avoid another hit. To his horror and astonishment, he backed up into the raptor! Grinning, the creature thrust downward with its weapon, intending to cut into his throat. X bent down slightly, kicking out his foot and getting the maverick off balance. Then, in the same brief moment, he brought his buster up against its chest and fired, sending it tumbling back into the brush. When he turned around, the others had finished off the last one. " Hurry!" He yelled. " They'll be on us in a heartbeat now!"

Just as he said that, five more were already rushing down the stairs to meet them, and behind them, eight more velociraptors stepped out of the bushes. " Any ideas?" Calliope asked skeptically.

" Not at the moment." VR said calmly.

* * *

" Can you get a reading on their location?" Genoscythe asked the driver impatiently. He tapped a booted toe impatiently on the mesh floor of the troop carrier. The driver shook his head.

" I'm sorry, sir, but the N-14's energy signature has…disappeared. Either it was completely destroyed or it was short-circuited." The driver replied. The Commander sighed and looked down at his steel feet.

" How far are we from the Biological Observation Lab?" He asked. The driver tapped a holo-map on the console next to him. They were less than a block away and closing fast. Genoscythe walked across the cockpit and leaned his head out of the open door. There, the BOL stood, but he could tell that the picture was hazy and distorted. He looked closer, and after studying it for a few moments, he came to the realization that a shield was up, but it was a very weak one.

" They've got a shield!" He yelled back to the driver. " It's been weakened, but I can't tell what type it is. Maybe a PL-12."

" How weak is it?"

" Pretty weak, but I can't say for sure." The pilot put the carrier on autopilot and looked out the window. He got back in his seat and turned off the auto pilot.

" Strap yourself in, sir." The pilot said with a grin. This guy was obviously new; he didn't have the authority to decide what to do.

" Hold on a second, what do you think you're doing? Do you have any respect at al-" Suddenly, the carrier jolted and Genoscythe was flung to the ground. Bits of metal and paint were sheared off the troop carrier as it blew past the weak shield and into the observation area. The carrier did a 180 spin, and came to a halting stop. Genoscythe was gripping a handlebar on the wall to keep himself from flying out the door.

" What the hell do you think you're doing? Do you have any idea how foolish that was? You could've gotten us killed!" He yelled at the driver. The young Maverick Hunter just shrugged and pushed his silver hair out of his way. Genoscythe turned and opened the door to the troop compartment. There, the entire 17th Hunter Division waited for instructions. " Move out." He instructed them. The hunters opened the back exit door and began collecting their weapons. The driver got up to join them. " Not you, Dynamo. You stay here and keep yourself out of my sight." The cheeky hunter frowned and sat back down in the pilot's chair.

By now, the shield had completely broken down, and the other troop carrier hovered in carrying the 14th's hunters. They were ready.

End

AN: Another testament to the fact that I won't stop writing until I say so. I decided to cut this chapter short, too, because I have so much left to write about and nobody's heard from me in awhile. I've gotten back into the spirit of writing now, so expect to get more fairly soon.


	15. Chapter 13: The Discovery

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War 

Chapter 13: The Discovery

By Genoscythe

Disc: I've got an incredibly small dog that I can sic on you if you try and sue me.

AN: [***] means the story is switching perspectives

One of the raptors was saying something into a Comm unit. Calliope breathed deeply, a heavy, resigned sigh. The three hunters could barely take on three of the mavericks, and here they were surrounded by thirteen of them! She had expected them to tear into her the moment they had them surrounded, but to her surprise, they did nothing. One was speaking, in its native tongue, into a small Comm unit.

" We're doomed," She whispered to Megaman X. He shook his head.

" Not yet." He said. He didn't have much confidence in his words, but some part of him knew that they would make it out. Until he figured out how, he just needed to keep the others calm. Looking over to his left, he realized that he didn't have much to worry about, because VR had a completely neutral look on his face. No emotion at all. People often said that X was good at reading emotions, and that was why he was so easy to work with. Trying to read this guy's emotions, though, was like trying to read the emotions of a steel wall.

X wondered if he was one of the new reploids, made by Replitech. The ones that seemed to be without emotions. _If he is the end result of the reploid race, then what does that say about our future? _He thought. Replitech was rapidly becoming one of the most powerful corporations in the world, but ever since Dr. Cain was excommunicated from the company, Replitech had cut down on building materials, leaving more money for them, and leaving their creations without a soul. No wonder why the casualty rate of this war is at least three times as great as the first.

Suddenly, all of the maverick raptors instantly snapped their long, reptilian heads to the left. None of the three hunters could hear or see anything, but suddenly a green and gray spinning object flew out of the brush with deadly precision. It sliced clean through the lead raptor's torso and kept on going. Then, it turned direction like a boomerang. The unmistakable beam scythe landed inches from its owner, who stood where there was only air moments before. Behind Commander Genoscythe, a hail of bullets and plasma blasts flew out of the forest and tore down the ranks of mavericks surrounding the hunters, who had taken cover on the ground.

The entire 17th Special Hunter Division followed by some members of the 14th Melee Hunter Division. X beamed, and Calliope just shook her head in amazement. " Sir, your timing is impeccable." VR said without a thought. Genoscythe bowed.

" My pleasure." He said, pulling his scythe out of the ground. " Did you take care of all of the guards?"

" I wouldn't know, but since there were about twenty guards outside the entire complex, I guess we took care of all of 'em." Calliope replied. VR stepped forward.

" My apologies, Commander, it was I who persuaded these two to follow me here. If you intend to punish us, then please leave them out of it."

" Well, I _was _going to court-martial all of you for disobeying direct orders, putting nearly fifty lives at stake and stealing Maverick Hunter property, but since you did such a nice job of disarming the shield and outer defenses, I think I'll let it slide for now." The crimson-eyed Maverick Hunter replied. " Just out of curiosity, why the hell did you do that, anyway?"

" One of our comrades may be a captive in there." VR said, pointing to the compound. We were afraid that we would not make it in time had we gone on a regular transport. Had I known it would have taken us this long to navigate the forest, I would've gone with your force."

" That's alright. The important thing now is that we've got an open shot at these maverick freaks. I'm going in with the 14th to fight with the units inside, while the 17th will sweep the outer perimeter so we don't get caught in a trap." Genoscythe nodded to the three hunters standing in front of him. " You three can go in and find whoever it is you're looking for."

" Thank you sir." X said, nodding. The commander gave a hand signal and the 14th were instantly at his side. The 17th departed to their set patrol paths.

***

" Who would have thought this place would be so huge?" X asked no one in particular. They were standing in a vast storage chamber one level below the first floor of the compound. They had to fight through five more raptors in the hallway to the elevator, but the 14th hunters took care of them with ease. The hunters moved stealthily through various crates of ammo, energy reserves and other supplies. The 14th was in the front, while the four other hunters were covering the back. Virtually nothing made a sound in the storage room, making the Maverick Hunters that every breath was impossibly loud. They wound through the metal crates carefully, searching the beige walls for any sign of a gun turret or secret wall panel.

They navigated the large cargo crates without any trouble, but the next door was electronically locked. The large silver shutter was easily big enough to fit five cargo crates through at once. At the head of the 14th, their captain bent down to examine the lock. " It's a simple one. Looks pretty old, too," he muttered. " Give me thirty seconds and I can get this thing unlocked." He said to the group of hunters behind him. They waited anxiously, but when the door was finally open, they were a little surprised. In front of them was a small catwalk that went past the wall and split off in two directions. There were doors on either wall to the side of them, but the most puzzling thing about it was the wall in front of them. It was green, and had many plates of armor on it, but it just didn't fit with the surroundings.

The hunters cautiously walked forward and onto the catwalk. Half their force went left, the other half right. X, Calliope, VR and Genoscythe went right. The catwalk seemed to stretch on forever, but it looked like the green wall curved away half a kilometer away. They walked across the catwalk, carefully watching their backs. When they reached the curve in the wall, the hunters were floored with what they saw to their left. What they had mistaken as a wall was really the right side of an _enormous _tank fashioned after a dinosaur on all fours. Far across the giant hangar, they could see half of its massive cockpit, with a huge yellow viewport shaped like an eye and a horn on top. Its armor was bristling with cannons and missile launchers. The tank's mouth was a giant beam cannon with fake jaws built around it.

It was obvious that this thing knocked out the IT satellite. The problem was this thing looked nearly impossible to destroy. It was so big; it had to have at least ten layers of armor, if not more. " Impossible," VR breathed. 

" It's massive. We'll never destroy it!" X exclaimed. Genoscythe muttered something under his breath. Then, he turned to the three hunters next to him.

" You three can go find your friend. We'll be here trying to destroy this thing. If you get lost or if you can't find him, meet back here." The three hunters nodded, then saluted. They ran back to the two doors they saw earlier, with X in the lead. They were just about to enter the door on the left when bullets began flying out of the door on the right. VR turned and trained his magnums on the door. He turned back to the other two.

" I'll hold them off, you two find Drake before it's too late!" X and Calliope spun around and dashed off through the door. They ran through a short, nondescript corridor as the sounds of gunfire receded behind them. At the end of the hallway, there was an elevator. They called it up, readying their weapons in case anyone was inside the elevator. Sure enough, the doors opened and two raptor mavericks were inside. Calliope leapt and cut into the left one's throat and X fired two rounds into the other one's stomach. They both crumpled to the floor and the hunters stepped inside.

Fortunately, the floor names were marked in English, so all they had to do was pick the floor labeled 'cell block' and they were going down. " I'll go out first," X said to Calliope. " If I see anything coming, I can shoot it before it gets too close. When it's all clear, I'll signal you." She nodded. X slowly stepped out of the elevator with his buster raised. He took several cautious steps out into the hallway, then once he saw it was clear, he opened the elevator again and Calliope came out. The hall they were in was very short and turned right to a flight of stairs. Calliope quickly poked her head around the corner. Suddenly, she swore and pulled her head back.

" There's a guard down the stairs. He might have seen me." She whispered urgently to X. They waited a few moments, but nothing happened. They both crept slowly around the corner, and in a flash, something slammed into X, pinning him to the wall. He cried out as the creature's clawed legs closed around his boots, locking him into place against the wall. The raptor raised its clawed hands, ready to strike the killing blow, but he brought his own hands up to push the maverick off of him. They grappled for several moments, neither giving way.

Suddenly, X saw a blinding flash of green, and blood poured over him in waves. The raptor's grip weakened, and he pushed off the maverick. It landed with a splat a foot away, its head and shoulders severed. Calliope grinned at him, coated in blood. " Sorry about the mess." She said.

" No problem," He replied. She pulled him to his feet and they looked down the hallway. It was in considerable disrepair, with mold growing on the walls and stains of various liquids all over the place. One of the overhead lights kept flickering on and off and many of the lights were out completely. There were holding cells on either sides of the prison hall, five on each side.

" I guess they didn't plan on taking many prisoners," X mused. Calliope nodded. The cells were old-fashioned; sliding doors with a little window slatted with bars on the upper part. Eight of the cells were open, so they assumed the other two had Drake and the other survivors. Overcome with relief, they ran to the nearest cell. The fact that _anyone _had been taken prisoner meant there was a chance Drake was alive.

Unfortunately, the cell door was locked with a handprint identification lock. If it had been any human lock, the standard Maverick Hunter gloves would have conformed to one of the matching prints based on the database in the lock. This handprint lock was shaped for a raptor, though. Thinking quickly, X grabbed the dead guard's arm, which had easily pulled out of its torn socket. He put the hand on the lock and it began scanning.

Calliope cocked an eyebrow at him. " Where did you learn to do a thing like that?" She asked him.

" Movies." He replied nonchalantly. The lock beeped, and the door opened. It was extremely dark inside, so the hunters had to squint. Light began spilling into the small, dank cell, and their eyes began to adjust. A Maverick Hunter lay on the floor, dead. A small cry escaped Calliope's lips, and X shook his head as he bent down to examine the corpse. He stood up a moment later. " He died recently; his body is still warm. The emblem on his armor is from the 15th. I don't recognize him," he said softly.

" The other one must be Drake's cell, then," Calliope said. X noted that she put emphasis on the word 'must'. X silently prayed as they opened the next cell. As the door slid open and dim light began pouring into the cell, the two hunters heard a familiar voice.

" You're three goddamn days late," Drake choked out from inside the cell. A small smile crept across X's face.

" If you want to be left here, that's what's gonna happen if you keep up that smart mouth," Calliope shouted at him. The grimy, tortured reploid just managed a cheeky smile.

" Just… get us out of here. The service here… really sucks," A shadow moaned in the corner of the cell. " C'mon, Briggsy, we got… ourselves a ride," The shadow merely groaned again. The two hunters rushed into the cell to help their comrades out. Drake wasn't too bad, considering he had been locked in hostile territory for three days. His uniform top was torn to shreds, and dried blood from cuts and lashes covered his chest and back. He was covered in grime, like he had been dropped in a sewer a few times. His eyes had a glazed look to them, and X suspected that he had been drugged several times.

Briggs was pretty bad, though. He looked just like Drake, but with one exception. His eyes had a terrible, lost look to them, like his soul had been taken. He stared blankly over Calliope's shoulder at the door. " Commander Briggs? We're here to break you two out," X said to the commander. There was no response. He just kept staring at the door. Suddenly, X realized that he wasn't blinking. " Sir? Sir, please say something,"

" My eyes… can't feel… my eyes…" Briggs moaned. He lurched forward, but Calliope caught him. He gagged a few times, then struggled to stand up. The gunshots upstairs were getting louder.

" We have to get you out of here _now_, do you understand? I need you to cooperate with me," Calliope said soothingly. Briggs said nothing. They walked out of the cell and up to the elevator, listening to the sounds upstairs. Just as they reached the elevator, it opened and a heavily armored figure came barreling through and almost ran into them with his shoulder. VR looked up from his charge and grinned at his friend.

" I thought I would never see you again, my friend," He said, looking at Drake. His armor was scarred and damaged in places, and his visor was cracked in the upper-left edge, but otherwise he seemed okay.

" Good to see you too, man," Drake replied. " How's the party upstairs?"

" Bad. Many of them are heavily armed, and we lost Commander Genoscythe halfway through the battle. The maverick's leader also apparently disappeared. Our melee fighters are no match against their heavy weaponry, so if we have any chance of escaping, we had best do it quickly," X, Calliope and Drake nodded. " On my way here, I downloaded a map of this compound. It shows that the floor above us is like some kind of central hub for all of the elevators in the compound. One of them leads to the top."

" Sounds simple enough," Calliope said.

" Indeed, but I cannot stand the fact that we would have to leave our allies upstairs behind," VR said.

" Neither can I, but these two can't fight, so we have to get them out of here first. The others still have a realistic chance of making it out," X spoke up. The others considered this for a moment.

" We really don't have much choice either way… damn mavericks…" Drake murmured.

" I guess we'd better get going before they find us," Calliope said. The five of them got into the elevator and VR put in the floor number. A short time later, they arrived at the hub. As soon as they opened the door, they could tell they were not alone. Suddenly, a blur of movement skirted across the center of the vast circular room lined with elevators. Another blur followed it to the other side. Then, there was an explosion and fire burst from the right wall.

A blue figure could be briefly seen through the flames, but then it rocketed away, running on the walls to catch up to the other blur that had used the explosion as a distraction. The blue one dashed to the wall in front of the blur. The blue thing slowed down, and they instantly knew who it was. It was Commander Genoscythe! Genoscythe jumped forward and spun in mid-air, impacting his foot with the other creature's face. It flew back, and they could finally see what it was.

It was one of the mavericks, only it was bigger and its reptilian skin was a dark brown, almost black. The big maverick crashed to the ground and skidded several meters in their direction. Genoscythe looked at them. " Run! He's too dangerous! I called for backup; HQ said they'd send some Cerberuses our way. GO!!!" He yelled.

" The surface elevator is three elevators to the right of us," VR whispered to everyone. Immediately, they began going right as quickly as they could with two wounded soldiers. The raptor was getting up, and Genoscythe turned his attention back to it. The creature let out a deep growl then flung its arms out. Twin beam sabers erupted from the gauntlets on its arms. Genoscythe dashed for it, but the raptor whipped around and slammed the beam sabers into the commander's side.

He flew, chunks of metal flying in the air in a trail. He put his foot down to slow himself, then spun around and charged again. When he reached the raptor, as he expected, his enemy swung where he would normally be. Genoscythe ducked to the left to avoid the slashes, jumped into the air and spun around, bringing his right arm blade to bear. To his surprise, the raptor brought up his own blades, parrying the blow. He bounced back from the impact, realizing with horror that he had been left open. The raptor sent his right leg into Genoscythe's chest, and the commander was soaring again.

He flew into a closed elevator door, which splintered like glass when he hit it. He collided with the elevator inside and it began to rock violently. He tried to regain stability, but the pain in his chest and hip were too great. He barely saw the monster charging at the elevator. Suddenly, the beast jumped into the air and Genoscythe thought he was safe.

***

X watched in horror as the raptor jumped at the wall above the elevator their commander was in. It drove its beam sabers into the wall so deeply; it began cutting the elevator cables. Genoscythe's elevator snapped forward suddenly, and X realized one of the wires had been cut. The maverick began cutting deeper, and he began fearing for his commander's life. Without thinking, he raised his X buster.

The elevator still hadn't come yet. It was an old cable model, and it had to travel forty or so floors down to get to them. X hesitated, remembering that they had two injured soldiers and that drawing attention to them would only be worse than not doing anything at all. He lowered his buster. The raptor slashed at the wall again, and this time the commander's elevator dipped down and pitched forward. Genoscythe was finally regaining his stability, but with one final swing, the battered elevator dropped suddenly and plummeted out of view. X couldn't help but yell and the maverick turned its icy gaze on them. He took a step back, fear showing in his eyes.

A soft ping emanated from their elevator, and they quickly backed up into its relative safety. To X's utter horror, the raptor crouched down and leapt into the air, landing right in front of them. Calliope punched in the floor number and the doors began closing. The maverick grabbed the door sides and held them open, grinning at his captors. Suddenly, Briggs jumped forward, wielding a pipe he had torn from the wall. He smashed the maverick in the jaw, knocking him against the door. Briggs ran toward it with all the strength he had, ramming the maverick with his shoulder. They both fell out of the elevator, and Calliope screamed as the doors began closing again. The maverick got up and strode toward Briggs, who was still regaining his breath, and the last thing they saw before the doors closed was a shower of crimson. As the elevator began its ascent, they heard an animalistic roar from the bottom of the shaft.

Tears slowly slid down Calliope's cheek, and X held her close to him. Drake was slumped against the wall, his head in his hands. VR was completely silent and motionless. When the elevator arrived at the top, none of the hunters made a move to leave right away. They stood there, pondering the loss of two more of their commanders. Both had died valiantly, and there was no doubt they would receive the highest honors at their funerals. Still, this did not change anything. If this war was to continue, there may not be any more noble soldiers left to fight for justice.

End


	16. Chapter 14: Escape

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War 

Chapter 14: Escape

By Genoscythe

Disc: Don't even try it.

Pain. Pain coursed through every fiber of his being. Pain embodied his legs, his arms, and his chest. As he slowly regained consciousness, the pain grew in intensity. Cooling and energy fluid rushed down his battered helmet, obscuring his vision. He could tell that he was at the bottom of a stairwell. The stairs had collapsed and rubble littered the floor. Part of the stairwell had collapsed on his legs, and the gash in his chest armor still hurt.

He was vaguely aware of something hanging over his head, so he twisted his neck as best he could to see what it was. The elevator that he had fallen down in had smashed through the floor and he had fallen out. Part of the wall was jutting out, barely holding the elevator up. He strained, but his joints would not respond. The elevator creaked, and it was obvious the wall wouldn't hold up much longer. Finally, one of his arms responded to his brain's call. He gripped a large piece of rubble and hurled it away.

Cracks were beginning to form on the wall, and bits of rock were falling from the ceiling. He worked faster to free his legs and arm. By the time he had freed his other arm, the elevator was sinking closer to his head. He quickly brushed the rest of the concrete off of him and managed a weak jump out of harm's way. Right behind him, the elevator tumbled loudly to the floor, pulverizing the rubble in its path.

He leaned against a large piece of debris to catch his breath and try to heal. After several moments, he remembered who he was and what he was doing there. He was Commander Genoscythe of the 17th Maverick Hunter Division, and he had just lost a fight to the leader of this compound. He remembered the battle clearly, wondering how his opponent could be so fast. Then, he was knocked into an elevator and fell down the shaft. The elevator tipped to its side and smashed through the floor, sending him tumbling out of it. He landed and rolled under a stairway for cover. Then, the elevator smashed the stairs to bits and covered him in debris.

Genoscythe shook his head to clear his mind. Things could still work out well for him. He looked along the hall, noticing that he was in a storage room. The room was long, with the walls stacked high with crates of building supplies and materials. There was a large cargo door at the end of the hall. The pulverized stairwell led to a door, possibly leading to another storage room. Next to the cargo door, there was a directory server. Genoscythe rushed over to the small console.

It was a newer model, nearly inaccessible for someone without a server cable implanted into he or she. Fortunately, he just happened to have a server cable in his left wrist. They were very expensive, but he had been built with one in him to begin with. He extended his arm, and a small hole appeared on the underside of it. A small cable slithered out and he commanded it to enter the directory server. It plugged into a plug on the side of the viewscreen.

He sent his mind through the cable, but was suddenly blocked by a password. Sending his mind into a sort of trance, Genoscythe's unconscious began to hack the password without actually doing anything. This was a trick he had picked up from Kain, a deeply spiritual Maverick Hunter in the 14th Division. He was told that the conscious mind was fearful, and that it refused information it was afraid to know. The unconscious mind, however, does not fear. It processes information many times faster than the conscious, and it will accept all kinds of data. Kain said that this is why humans can never be as smart as they can potentially be, for most of their brain is used up by the unconscious.

He came up with the answer, unlocked the password, and headed for the main data download unit. Suddenly, his mind was flowing with information. He knew the exact layout of the compound, he knew what their fighting force was, and most importantly, he learned what the mavericks were going to do with that monstrous Dinosaur Tank. Everything was becoming clear, and he knew what he had to do. Silently, he unplugged the cable and opened the cargo door.

* * *

The first noticeable difference about the outside of the compound was that most of the jungle had been torn down or caught ablaze. Calliope, X, Drake and VR stumbled forth into the evening light and the smell of death and burning embers. Directly in front of them, two Cerberus class transports were waiting to pick them up. The Cerberus was the largest and most powerful of the Maverick Hunters' hover transports, with five double-shot cannons on both sides of its tube shaped chassis. The ridge on top of it had six small unguided missile launchers that could be operated by the copilot. The cockpit, in the front, was rounded with a bulletproof viewscreen near the top. The entire thing was propelled by eight hover units, four on each side, and it was roughly 30 yards long and 10 wide. The 17th was falling back to the two hulking Cerberi while keeping their fire trained on the mavericks in the jungle.

The four hunters made their way to the hover vehicles, with only Drake to carry, they could move much faster. Suddenly, bullets sprayed all around them and a maverick charged from the brush. In a flash, the creature was flung back in a shower of sparks and shrapnel. The Cerberus pilot gave them a thumbs-up sign, and X nodded in appreciation. Within moments, they were through the Cerberus doors and into relative safety. The Cerberus was divided into three sections, the small cockpit, the main troop carrier section, and the medical bay. There were rows of cushioned benches along the walls of the troop section. X looked to Calliope.

" You look tired, Cal. You should get some rest, me and VR can take care of Drake." Too tired to argue, she flopped down on the bench and managed a weary smile.

" Thank you, X," She said softly.

***

Pretty soon, the order to retreat had been verified. Only a very small handful of the 14th had survived, and less than half of the 17th made it back. This battle could be considered one of the worst losses for the Maverick Hunters yet. Most of the survivors were in other Cerberus, Calliope noted. There were only four hunters other than she, X, VR and Drake in this one. VR was in one corner of the troop carrier trying to repair a damaged hull piece. X was still checking on Drake, and the other hunters were asleep. They were getting nearer to the city limits, and the mavericks had stopped following them long ago.

She took off her helmet and undid her ponytail. She released the locks on her chest and shoulder armor and set them aside. Calliope stood up, stretched, and walked to the medical bay. She slid the door open and closed it behind her. X was standing in front of Drake's table. She walked up behind him and slid her arms around his waist.

" How's he doing, Dr. X?" She asked him. He turned his head to face her.

" He's doing quite a bit better, that's for sure. His vitals have been stable since I gave him the antidote for the drug they gave him. His wounds aren't very deep, but he'll need a good rest and a shower. When we get back to HQ, I'll need to have one of the technicians take a look at his right arm. It seems a bit loose."

" How are you doing?" She asked softly.

" I'm tired, hungry, and in need of a good sleep, but otherwise I'll be fine," He said, smiling. " How about you? You look bushed,"

" I'm exhausted like the rest of us, but there's no need to worry about me. I can take care of myself," She replied. He turned around in her arms.

" I'm sorry we couldn't have our date," He said solemnly. He was expecting her to be disappointed, but instead she just pulled him closer and gripped him tighter.

" I couldn't really give a crap about the date," She said with a light tone in her voice. " I'm just glad we both made it out once again," he took her hand in his. " Besides," She said. " As long as I'm with you, this is as good as a date,"

"Calliope…"

"Yeah?" Suddenly, time seemed to slow to a crawl as X cupped her face in his hands. She leaned closer to him until their lips met in a soft, yet powerful kiss. All of the emotion they had tried to suppress came out in that instant. Emotion and love coursed through their wires. X suddenly realized that this feeling that he was experiencing was not real, that it was something created by the powerful computer chip in his electronic brain. As much as he wanted to deny it, this was not 'true' love, and that reploids could never attain true love. It was just a thing his brain was telling him to feel. _But then, _he thought, _what is 'real' feeling? When it comes down to it, our feelings are just the same as humans. Their brain tells them what to feel, the same as ours does. The only difference is that our love is born of programs and triggers inside our head._ Calliope made a slight moan and arched her back. The kiss became more powerful but not at all less tender. After what felt like hours, but was really only about a minute, they released their hold on each other. They just stood there in each other's arms for a while. Then Calliope laid her head on his shoulder and gave a sigh of satisfaction. 

" You know that I love you, right?" X whispered in her ear. She smiled and closed her eyes.

" I know, X. I know,"

" Then can you do me a favor?"

" Anything, my love,"

" Can you call me Rock? That's my real name, but I've never told anybody that,"

" You've never told anyone?"

" Nobody except Dr. Cain. He promised to keep it a secret,"

" Thank you, Rock," Calliope said, nestling closer to him. He remained silent and stroked her light brown hair.

" We should get some rest," He suggested. She nodded. They sat down on one of the small benches in the medical bay and soon were in a deep sleep, nestled close to each other for comfort. On one of the operating tables bolted to the floor, Drake managed a weak smile. _Good for you, man, _He thought. _Good for you._

* * *

It was nearing 4:30 AM by the time the hunters returned to HQ. Outside, they were surprised to find a large number of the hunters outside the building waiting for them. In fact, it almost looked like all of them were outside. Even Dr. Cain was in the crowd, which was pretty unusual. When the hulking troop carriers came to a stop, several hunters ran over to the Cerberus full of hunters. " Is Megaman X here? Hey, is Megaman X over here?" One of the smaller hunters piped up. A large, foreboding hunter from the 14th pointed to the other Cerberus. The hunters rushed over and flung open the door. " Megaman X! Is Megaman X in here?"

" What?" Came a groggy reply. Megaman X stepped through the doorway to the main body section.

" Come on! Now! There's something you need to see," another hunter said. X stepped forward. " Bring your armor," the hunter added. X went back to the medical bay and put on his armor, then came back to the small mob of hunters. "Come with me," One of them said. The rest of the hunters stayed behind as they walked to the large HQ.

" What the hell is going on? Why is everybody outside?" X asked.

" About an hour after you left, a strange maverick appeared at the HQ. We still don't know how it escaped detection, but to put it simply, we tried to eliminate it but failed miserably. It was so fast…" A haunted look came about the hunter.

" What did it look like?" X asked him.

" He started asking to see Megaman X," the hunter said, almost as if he hadn't heard X's question. " We wouldn't tell him where you were, and we couldn't fight him, so we had to give in to him. He made us stay outside of the building until you came."

" A whole base brought down by one maverick?" X asked incredulously.

" The losses were staggering. We had to pull back to cut our losses. From what we could tell, he would not go back on his word and attack us,"

" What did he look like?" X asked again, with a bit more edge to his voice.

" He was purple, with armor almost like a jester's. His eyes were bright yellow and he seemed to wear a perpetual smile," X's eyes narrowed. He began to walk faster toward the HQ. The other hunter was having trouble keeping up. X's fast walk soon turned to a jog, then a run. He dashed through the curious crowd in front of the building and kicked open the door.

****

End


	17. Chapter 15: Agile

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War 

Chapter 15: Agile

By Genoscythe

Disc: Zeeky Boogy Doog

The Maverick Hunter HQ lobby was a complete mess. The reception desk was smashed to rubble, and a decapitated hunter lay sprawled on the bloody debris. The coffee machine had been tipped over, and the bodies of dead Maverick Hunters littered the floor. On a couch next to the wall, Agile the X Hunter sat with his arms folded across his chest. The omnipresent grin on his face never faltered when he saw Megaman X break open the reinforced door.

" Agile! What the hell are you doing here!?" X yelled. " What have you done to these hunters?"

" I killed them. I admit, it was very fun," Agile said quickly.

" Damn you," X hissed. " Your fight's with me, maverick! Leave the others out of this,"

" That was never part of the deal," Agile replied.

" It is now,"

" Excuse me? I believe the ball is in our court. You are in no position to make deals with us, lest you lose your friend for good. In any case, I did not attack them, I just defended myself,"

" If you want to fight me, then you must promise not to harm any more hunters," X said.

" I really hate to repeat myself." Agile growled.

" Fine then. I won't fight you," X said. " Besides, this isn't the best time for this. I just got back from a mission, and I need to recharge. I can't fight you in this condition,"

" A WARRIOR IS ALWAYS PREPARED FOR A FIGHT!" Agile barked. " Don't give me any excuses," He stood up. " Fight me now, coward,"

" Show me Zero's part,"

" I am a reploid of my word, Megaman X. Do not think of me otherwise," Agile reached for a brown satchel on the couch. He opened it and pulled out Zero's head. It pained X to see his friend's corpse, but he held it in.

" Fine, then. Shall we?" X asked.

" Finally. This is the best part," Agile spoke in a purring voice. Suddenly, he disappeared. X drew his X buster and looked around for a sign of him. Then, there was a flash from above and he jumped to the side. Agile crashed into the floor seconds after he jumped. Holding a beam saber in his hand, Agile jumped to the wall and pushed off toward X. He didn't move a muscle, not until Agile was almost upon him. The purple X Hunter raised his sword and X fired his dash boosters. He boosted under Agile and grabbed onto his leg, using the momentum of his dash to hurl him into the rubble that used to be the reception desk. A dull metal clang resounded from Agile's head as he collided with a large piece of debris. He got up slowly, wiping blood from his mouth.

" Now I see why those who came before you are now just piles of scrap. This should be interesting…"

* * *

" Out of my way!" Calliope yelled as she pushed several hunters aside. " I said move it!" She barked at a lollygaging little hunter. She soon reached the door, but before she could open it, someone called out to her to stop. It was Dr. Cain, who was limping his way through the crowd with his gnarled wooden cane. He reached the confused reploid girl and patted her on the back.

" Please don't be upset, my dear," he said in an old, weathered voice. "This is something he must do alone,"

" Why?" Calliope yelled. " You want him to live, don't you?" Dr. Cain just chuckled and shook his head.

" My girl, if you really knew what X is capable of, then you would never have to fear for his life again,"

"What's that supposed to…" Suddenly, there was a blinding blue light radiating through the glass doors. Then, a sound like thunder echoed through the air, shaking the entire base. Soon, an explosion followed, blasting the front doors off their hinges. Once the smoke and dust cleared, they could see the lobby.

* * *

One minute prior…

Agile's repeated sword slashes had backed X into a corner. Using his buster as a shield, he knew that it would not survive several more blows. They stood still for several moments, just staring daggers at each other and trying to regain their breath. X leaned against the wall for a moment with his buster still pointed at Agile. Suddenly, the purple maverick burst forward. X didn't have time to think, he just needed to live…

X dashed, just barely avoiding Agile's sword. However, Agile anticipated this, and he jumped off the wall at a perfect trajectory to hit X in the back of the head. X spun around and saw the monster plummeting a second too late. Agile's sword plunged through X's side, and as he fell, Agile drove it into the ground. X cried out in pain as he tried to pull the sword from his side. Blood was leaking slowly from the wound, but he feared pulling it out would be worse. Suddenly, Agile's foot came out of nowhere and smashed him in the ribs. He yelped and choked on some blood. Then, he could see Agile walking over to the sword in his side.

X could tell that Agile was talking to him, but he could not hear. All he heard was a buzzing sound. The sound of his brain telling him his end is near? His vision blurred, but he could still see Agile grab the sword handle. He twisted the blade, tearing the synthetic muscle and Endo-steel skeleton. Overwhelming pain coursed in his body, and suddenly a blue light obscured his vision. In the center of the light, he saw an old, content looking man he recognized as Dr. Light.

" X… do you remember the armor program I downloaded into your body? Do you remember how it was destroyed in your battle with Sigma? The data is still in your head, X… I have improved the data, and it is ready for you to use… your body should remember how…" the hologram said.

" My…body…" X spoke softly. " How did you… how can my armor…"

" X, though you did not realize it, what I gave you in the blue capsules was not the armor itself, but the data you needed to unlock the armor… Your normal armor can morph into whatever the data tells it to… Now, go forth and destroy that maverick!" The light faded, and somehow X's vision cleared. Agile was staring at him in horror. When he looked down at himself, he could see his armor glowing. Suddenly, the light erupted and filled the lobby with energy. Through the intense light and heat, X grabbed the sword and gave it a hard pull. The blade came free easily. He stood up, and realized that his armor had changed.

Instead of azure blue it was now pure white. His gloves were a deep crimson, and his boots were decorated with red stripes. His chestplate was trimmed with blue, and he had two yellow streaks on the sides. The hole in his side was still there, but the blood flow had lessened.

Agile backed up, seeing that X's power had more than doubled. A split-second later, X dashed forward. He thrust the sword into Agile's arm, and with his buster arm, he pressed it against Agile's chest. X fired his buster, but something unexpected happened. Instead of a normal shot, there was a huge burst of energy and the sound of thunder echoed through the base. Agile screamed, and soon he was engulfed in the ball of energy.

Seconds later the energy exploded, blasting the doors off the entrance and knocking X back a few steps. When the smoke cleared and the light faded, he saw Agile lying on the ground. His armor was in shreds and the wound from his sword was gushing blood. To his surprise, he managed to move.

" Megaman X… I'll be back…" Then, Agile vanished in a burst of light. X just stood in the charred, smoking remains of the lobby, breathing hard and clutching his chest. He heard footsteps behind him and voices calling. He felt a warm, slender pair of arms grab him by the neck and someone was hugging him tightly.

" X, I can't believe you toasted that guy!" A young hunter called out. He could tell that the person hugging him was Calliope because he could feel the shape of her body, but his vision began to blur again. He could feel pins and needles all over his body and he began to go limp.

" X… thank god you're still alive…" Calliope whispered into his ear. Wait… who was Calliope again? He couldn't remember… slowly his thoughts drifted into unconsciousness.

" Hey… Hey, he's bleeding!"

" X?"

" He won't respond!"

" Oh god…"

" Somebody get a freakin' medic! He's-

* * *

X awoke to find himself in the medlab of the Maverick Hunter Headquarters, which was still being repaired after the last maverick attack. He tried to lift one of his arms, but he must have been dosed with strong painkillers because he couldn't feel anything from the neck down.

" Commander X? Is your condition improving?" X moved his head a bit and saw a Lifesaver unit standing by his bed. He was a standard model, tall and stocky, decked out in white armor. He had a Replitech symbol stamped on his right shoulder joint. Made in red ink, the Replitech insignia was a circle with the letters RT connected with a little swirl at the bottom. Ever since Mobius went berserk on the entire medlab, the Hunters had been forced to loan Lifesaver units from Replitech until they could get permanent replacements.

" Commander?" X suddenly realized that he had let his mind wander. Then, something came to him.

" Did you just call me 'commander'?" he asked the Lifesaver.

" Yes. I am updated with the current Maverick Hunter roster. My systems detect that you were a captain at the time of Genoscythe's death, thus making you the commander by default,"

" What?" X could hardly believe what it was saying. _Me, a commander? _He thought. _Drake will never let me hear the end of this. _The thought of his friend brought a question to his mind. " How is Drake's condition? And for that matter, where is Calliope?"

" I can only accept one request at a time," It said in its monotonous voice. _Damn, it's like talking to a computer._

" Fine. Where is the Maverick Hunter named Calliope?"

" She is here," The Lifesaver said. He moved aside so that X could see the bed next to his. Calliope was sleeping on it, still wearing her battle armor, her chocolate hair spilling down the side of the bed. " She has stayed here beside you ever since you became unconscious. I asked her to leave when visiting hours were over, but she refused. She even drew her sword on me when I insisted!" The Lifesaver gave an uncharacteristic laugh. " I had to give her a place to sleep, so I let her use one of the spare beds,"

X smiled. This was something he loved about Calliope. She never gave up on what she believed in, and she was capable of so much passion that she forced the Lifesavers to let her stay with him.

" Excuse me, Commander X, but may I finish repairing your injury now before the anesthetics wear off?" Lifesaver asked.

" Go ahead," X replied. Lifesaver took a cutting tool from a tray nearby and grabbed a reploid part from a table. Pulling the sheet back from X's bed; he began to cut through the outer layer of skin covering X's left abdomen. Peeling back the skin layer, his Endo-steel chassis was exposed. Lifesaver pressed a button on X's chest, and the left side of his skeleton detached. Lifesaver put the ruined part with the sword gash into the trash bin next to the bed. Now, he replaced the destroyed part with the brand new one he had gotten off of the table. After it clicked into place, he sealed the locks and made sure energy fluid was circulating through the new part.

Lifesaver got a small paintbrush off of the tray he had used earlier. He spread the substance on the brush onto X's skin where it had been cut, so that it would heal quickly. " Perfect. You just need to relax for awhile while the skin and muscle heals," The Lifesaver said. X could already feel the anesthetic begin to wear off.

" Thanks doctor," he replied. As he looked at his beloved, exhaustion crept through him. Soon, sleep took him completely.

****

END


	18. Chapter 16: Memories

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War 

Chapter 16: Memories

By Genoscythe

Disc: Disc: Disc: Disc: Disc: Disc: Disc: Disc: Disc: Disc:

AN: A huge thanks to all of my reviewers for checking out my story and taking the time to write something good. Your comments have been an inspiration to me, so that's why I cranked out this chapter so quickly. Just so you know, I'll probably put in about 4 or 5 more chapters before this story's over, but that won't be the end. I'm planning on at least making a Megaman X3 and maybe 4 or 5 before I'm done. But then again, the only way to be certain is to wait and see. I've been blabbering on enough, so now I'll let you read your story.

* * *

" Preparations are all set. Sentries have confirmed the underground tunnel is clear," A maverick soldier spoke to one of the sentries guarding the Dinosaur Tank. The raptor sentry just growled at the reploid. " Oh, I forgot. You're part of the ground force, aren't you? Poor fool, you'll never even see the inside of the vehicle you're protecting!" The maverick exclaimed. The raptor jabbed him with its spear in agitation.

" Hey, watch where you poke that thing, bastard!" The cocky reploid spat. " Be glad you have a job at all, instead of being one of your leader's playthings." It was common knowledge in the maverick occupied BOL that Velocity Raptor, the leader of their group, loved killing. The poor reploids that could not do a job efficiently were brought to his quarters where he personally slaughtered them. 

Sickened by the prospect of being sent to his master, the sentry was quiet and let the maverick past. While most of the other crewmembers of the giant battlecraft had already gotten prepared and were at their stations, this particular reploid was late for duty. He swiftly headed to the locker room.

Opening his locker, he quickly put on his green jacket and pulled on his matching cap with the engraved Maverick symbol. However, as he was putting on his belt, he heard a slight sound, almost like a footstep. Nervously, he closed his locker and turned around, only to find himself staring into a pair of vicious-looking, blood red eyes. He tried to pull his gun, but his life was ended before he could even tell what he was trying to shoot. 

* * *

Drake ran through the pouring rain, the blood on his armor cascading off his body. Thoughts raced through his head as he ran aimlessly through the city. _Why did they turn on me? Did they not trust me? Did I do something wrong? I have to hide. Jawbreaker and Emilio might be looking for me. And what about Aria? What ever happened to him? _His mind was a jumbled mess, and since he had lost all ties with anyone except the members of Emilio's group, he had nowhere to go and nobody to turn to. He headed for the only place familiar to him: the _Techno Nights _bar & club.

***

Drake awoke with a start, sweat dripping off his forehead. He was panting heavily, and he felt cold all over his body. He had just relived the worst experience in his life. The feeling of total despair that had enveloped him after he had been betrayed by his comrades and killed Raz, one of his former friends and greatly wounded Emilio and Jawbreaker. To this day, he still didn't know why they had tried to kill him.

Another thing he didn't know was the whereabouts of his only true friend in that gang: Aria. Drake had often wondered why Aria, who was a kind and valiant reploid, had even joined Emilio's mercenary group. He watched the never-ending darkness outside his medlab window envelop the barren land outside the Maverick Hunter Headquarters, curious thoughts weaving tales in his head. Two days after he had been rescued from a maverick base in Neo Tokyo City, he was still recovering from the wounds he had sustained from torture there. The Lifesaver units told him he was still experiencing minor muscle trauma from the drugs they gave him in that hellhole. He also still wore bandages from the many physical injuries he bore.

In the distance, a single street lamp lit the road leading to Neo Tokyo City. For a moment, Drake thought he saw a large shadow pass under it. However, it was too far away for him to tell what it was. It struck his mind that it could be a maverick assassin. He squinted out into the darkness once more, and this time he saw that it was coming closer. Without thinking, Drake grabbed a surgical knife from the table next to him and opened the window.

He landed quietly on the dying grass below the window. After waiting for his keen reploid eyes to adjust, he could clearly see the figure coming at him. Drake inhaled sharply, surprise written all over his face. It was Jawbreaker! The reploid went into a shoulder charge, and before he could respond at all, his former comrade slammed into him, sending him flying like a rag doll. Drake landed in the dust several yards away, groaning and clutching his stomach. Before he knew it, Jawbreaker was on top of him, grabbing the collar of his uniform and lifting him up.

" I said I would get my revenge, traitor." Jawbreaker snarled.

" Since when… was _I _the traitor?" Drake replied, trying to squirm out of his grasp.

" When you killed Raz and Emilio!" The giant cockroach spat.

" So… the ringleader kicked the bucket too, huh?" He said. " Shame I wasn't around for that," Jawbreaker grabbed Drake's neck with his free arm and squeezed it so tightly that it would have broken a human's neck instantly. Reploids, however, were built to withstand stresses such as this, and it only managed to cause Drake severe pain.

All of a sudden, Drake wasn't outside the Maverick Hunter HQ anymore; he was in the _Techno Nights _bar, sitting on one of the stools with about half a dozen shot glasses in front of him. The alcohol was rushing through his system as fast as his mechanical body was draining it out. He wasn't quite sure if he was trying to kill himself or not, because he knew it was impossible for reploids to die of alcohol poisoning. Still, he kept ordering glass after glass.

After what felt like hours, a reploid came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. Drake tried to spin the stool around, but he ended up nearly falling off of it. He looked at the reploid in front of him, clad in red armor and sporting a long blonde ponytail.

" Hey, you alright?" The reploid asked Drake.

" Do I know you, miss?" He replied, slurring his words. The red reploid grimaced.

" Look, most reploids give up trying to kill themselves after a while, but you have gotta set some kind of record by now,"

" Wat, you mean thesse?" Drake waved his arm horizontally, knocking some of the shot glasses onto the floor. The bartender just shook his head and went to pick up the broken glass.

" I think you've had enough. I'd better get you outta here before you do any more damage," The crimson reploid grabbed him by the arm and hoisted him onto his shoulder. As the two reploids made their way out of the bar, a giant figure burst through the door. It was a giant cockroach-reploid, almost drenched in blood. His right eye was missing, and there were several bullet wounds in his skull. Also, a knife handle was protruding from his side, which was oozing blood.

Immediately, Jawbreaker recognized Drake, and shouted. " You!!! You…killed Raz! He was the only true friend I ever had!"

" S…spare me the… sob story, you freak," Drake muttered. He was starting to come out of his daze.

" You heartless bastard!!!" Jawbreaker lunged at the two reploids, but in a flash, the crimson reploid laid the goliath low with a straight punch.

" I don't care what this guy did, but you have no right to kill him. Got that?" The red savior spoke to the reeling Jawbreaker. " If he really did do something wrong, then let the law punish him and save your strength,"

" Can you…hear me Drake?"

" Loud and clear, loser,"

" Then mark my words… if you ever set foot into this bar again, I'll kill you!!!"

" Consider 'em marked, fatso,"

" Alright, 'Drake', we'd better get moving. Can ya walk?" The reploid asked him.

" Yeah,"

" Then come with me," The two reploids walked outside and Drake followed Mr. Red to a hoverbike parked on the side of the street.

" Hey, this is a Ride Chaser!" Drake exclaimed as he eyed the creamy white polished chassis, the dual shock-absorbing seats and the concealed pulse cannon under the hood. " It's a Maverick Hunter model," The crimson reploid straddled the front seat and pressed a button on the dashboard. A video screen flickered to life below the steering handles.

-**Verify User Name-**

" Zero," The reploid said.

-**User (Zero) Verified. Checking Energy Signature…Matching Energy Signature Detected. Unlocking All Systems-**

" Zero, huh?" It was more of a statement than a question.

" Yyyyyep. Hold on," Suddenly, the ride chaser flared to life and began floating gently in the air. In an instant, they were cruising through the city streets at incredible speed. They finally came to a stop in front of a mid-sized turquoise office building that was undergoing some major renovations. Several helicopters were pulling a massive attack cannon up to the top of the building, and scaffolding covered the walls, with reploids and humans alike working on various parts of the building. Most were adding anti-shell armor, and some were installing radar dishes, some were priming gun batteries. In front of the building there was a large metal sign that read: **Maverick Hunter Headquarters**

(Under Renovations)

Despite all the changes, the building was undeniably similar to…

" It… it's my father's old lab. This is where I grew up…" Drake said in a hushed voice. Suddenly, all the trauma of the night hit him like a wave. His vision blurred as he was experiencing a brain overload. He fell off the bike, but his systems shut down before he hit the ground.

Back in the present, it felt like no time had gone by at all, and Drake had to look around in bewilderment to make sure he wasn't still in some dream.

" Well?" Jawbreaker asked him. " Do ya have any last words?"

" Yeah," Drake replied. " I'm sorry I ever trusted you. I'm sorry I went with Emilio, but I'm not sorry I killed Raz **or **Emilio!"

" That's it! You die!" Jawbreaker's giant hand squeezed, but at the same time, Drake brought up the surgical knife, driving it into the giant's wrist and pulling it out again. Jawbreaker's hand pulled back and he released Drake, dropping him hard on the ground. The cockroach emitted a low growl as he clutched his bleeding arm. Having hit a major artery, blood was flowing at an incredible rate. " Damn you!!!" He screamed. Soon, his mechanical skeleton shut off the blood flowing into his arm. Therefore, without blood to stimulate the muscles, Jawbreaker jettisoned the skin and muscles on his left arm. It was a particularly nasty feature given to most combat reploids, in which they are able to release the skin and muscle from their body so they can freely move their metal skeleton.

Jawbreaker's muscles slid off his arm and plopped onto the ground with a sick squishy noise. All that was left was his thick robotic skeleton, which was slick with fluid from his arm. " Nasty, man." Drake said, almost gagging.

" I don't have anything to live for, anyway. After I kill you, I can finally put myself to rest."

" Good, 'cause you'll be doin' the world a favor,"

" Do you have any idea of what a hell I've been through? Every day after you killed them I wanted to join them, but the one thought that kept me alive was that I had to see to it that you were punished. It was even worse when you humiliated me in the bar. Now, you taunt me like this! I have to bury my friends' restless spirits once and for all,"

" Tell me this, Jawbreaker, do you know why the three of you tried to kill me that night?"

" Yeah, I do. Emilio told me you were ratting us out to the cops, so we decided to stage a fake museum heist with the idea of killing you while your back was turned,"

" What? I never told the cops about anything! I never even seen a cop, 'cept when I get caught driving dangerously," Drake told him.

" Don't lie about it, Drake."

" I'm not lying! Why don't you ask Aria? He watched me night and day to make sure I didn't do something stupid. If anyone would know what I was up to, it would be him."

" You're right… Anyway, I can't find him. He disappeared the night of the incident... Look, it doesn't matter! All that matters is that I set things right!" Suddenly, Jawbreaker charged. Drake instinctively held out his arms to stop him, but suddenly the behemoth just stopped moving. Drake looked down and saw the surgical knife, or rather the handle, protruding from Jawbreaker's stomach. When he held out his hands, he had accidentally skewered the juggernaut. The squirming reploid reached out to grab Drake, but his power was fading rapidly.

" No… I was so close…" Then, Jawbreaker collapsed to the ground, the knife still implanted into his chest. Slowly, his mechanical eye lost its red gleam, then died completely. Drake's face was ashen as he breathed deeply, looking down at the one he used to call 'friend'. Then, a wave of recognition washed over him. He clearly remembered the night of the incident.

***

" Go ahead, Drake,"

" Are you sure we wanna do this? I mean, stealing from a museum seems a little low," Drake replied to Emilio.

" You know how short we are on cash. Sometimes you just have to do what you can," Emilio said.

" Just open the freakin' door already!" Raz spat impatiently. Drake sighed and started cracking the password lock. He was almost done, and suddenly, he heard a gun cock. Without thinking, he put his foot on the door and pushed off, propelling himself into the air. Half a second later, hundreds of bullets ripped into the door where he had been. In midair, he pulled out his Multi-task Gun set to auto rifle mode and blindly fired in the direction of the first shots. Raz screamed as bullets tore into his arm and side.

Drake landed almost three meters from Emilio, who had his custom handgun aimed at his head. He dashed forward, pulling his combat knife out of its sheath at his side. Emilio fired a shot that grazed his shoulder armor, but it was too late. Drake swung the knife twice across Emilio's chest, and spurts of real blood washed over him. He then turned towards Raz again, who was trying to pick up his sub-machine gun. 

By now Drake was in a blind rage. _They tried to kill me! Why? _The only answers that came to his head at the moment was to defend himself. He let loose a string of bullets that caught Raz in the chest, knocking him back against the wall. Drake switched modes on his gun, and the shotgun barrel locked into place. Raz was wounded badly, but he was still alive. Drake walked up to him with the shotgun aimed at his power core. Raz looked up in terror.

" Drake… this is all a mistake… just a misunderstanding…please let me live…This was all Emilio's idea…" Drake was about to ask Raz why they were trying to kill him, but when he began to beg for mercy, his rage doubled.

" What? You expect me to forgive you for trying to kill me? You're even trying to pin the blame on Emilio!" Drake lifted the shotgun. " You…" He cocked it. " …Make me sick!!!" He fired.

Seconds later, Drake was just standing there, panting heavily, covered in blood. Suddenly his mind clicked. _Jawbreaker!_ He whirled around, scanning the dark alley. The only things he could see were Emilio, moaning and squirming on the ground, and an old dumpster. Then he looked into the sky, and saw a dark silhouette jump from the roof. It looked like it would land right on top of him. Drake rolled to the right, and Jawbreaker landed with a crushing thud on the concrete. He stood up and swerved his head to look at Drake. Then, he saw Emilio lying in a pool of blood, still moving, next to him. Then, he looked behind him and saw Raz. With a mighty roar, Jawbreaker charged the blood-drenched reploid. Drake fired several shots that hit the behemoth in the head, and he stumbled back. Vaguely, he realized it was starting to rain. Then, he noticed that he only had one shot left.

Drake flicked the mode switch to single shot mode, and took careful aim while Jawbreaker was stunned. The bullet would have gone right into his mechanical brain, but at the sound of the gun, he jerked his head so that the bullet pierced his right eye instead. Artificial blood sprayed onto the concrete, but Jawbreaker was still intent on crushing Drake.

Without ammo, Drake did the first thing that came to mind; he grabbed his combat knife and, while the monster was charging, thrust it into his side. It was just too much for the giant cockroach, and he slumped to the ground, seemingly unconscious. Without a second thought, Drake ran. He ran for all he was worth, into the endless night and pouring rain, alone with his sorrow. As he ran, he thought he saw a silhouette in front of the moonlight. The reploid known as Aria watched with dismay as Drake fled the scene and Emilio, the human, silently died.

***

The next thing Drake knew, he was back in the medlab. People were assaulting him with questions and trying to get him to wake up. Now, all he wanted to do was sleep.

****

End

AN: Well, that was a very Drakish chapter. I hope that clears up the past of this character well enough (Don't worry, you're not supposed to know who Aria is yet…actually I don't even know x_x. I haven't quite decided yet.) Well, that's pretty much all I have to say for this chapter, other than I think it turned out well. Ah well…Later!


	19. Chapter 17: The Azure Hunter's Rage

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War 

Chapter 17: The Azure Hunter's Rage

By Genoscythe

(Insert Disclaimer here)

AN: Once again, I want to thank all of my reviewers (I don't want to point out anyone in particular because I think you all deserve equal credit for posting a review) Anyway, on to the chapter!

Oh yeah, just a slight warning to the little tykes reading this (though I'm pretty sure there are none), this chapter's pretty heavy on a lot of things, like violence, drama, and romance. The end is a bit noticeable, but nothing you should really worry about. So, before I continue to spoil the story, read on…If you dare!

A soft breeze filtered through the window of Megaman X's sleeping quarters, caressing Calliope's face as she sat in a chair next to X's bed. The owner of the room was sleeping peacefully in the bed, still recovering from his battle with the X Hunter Agile. After the first day of being in intensive care, the lifesaver unit let him return to his room, but he was suspended from duty and was advised to relax until his wounds fully healed.

Calliope lovingly stroked X's cheek while he lay in bed. At the touch of her fingers, his eyes fluttered open and he gently reached up and took her hand into his own. " Have you been here this whole time?" He asked her.

" Yeah, ever since yesterday evening. I left to get some dinner, but that was it," She replied.

" You don't have to do this for me, you know," He said softly. " I know how to take care of myself. Besides, don't you have hunting duty?"

" You're welcome," She said flatly. He shook his head.

" Sorry. I just don't want you trapped in here waiting on me when you could be doing something more interesting," He explained

" Rock, there's nothing more interesting to me than simply being with you," She bent down and whispered in his ear. He faced her.

" You spoil me," He said, then kissed her softly. For several moments, they just looked into each other's eyes. Then, X saw a tear slide down from Calliope's dark blue eyes. She quickly blinked it away, but he still noticed it. " What's wrong?" He asked her.

" What? Oh, it's nothing," She said quickly. Then, she looked back into his eyes and found that she could not lie to him. " It's just that… I'm worried about your safety," X resisted the urge to laugh.

" _My _safety? I should be the one worrying about you," He said. Then he changed his tone. "…But I don't, because I know you can take care of yourself and I know how strong you are," Calliope's face melted into a smile again. Suddenly, she jerked forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close to her.

" Please," She said. " Just don't ever leave me,"

" I would never even dream of it. You just worry about protecting yourself on the battlefield," He said while stroking her hair. She looked him in the eye.

" What would I do without you?" With that, she leaned forward and kissed him tenderly. They held their position for awhile, but when Calliope gently arched her back, the kiss intensified. X pulled her down on top of him without breaking the embrace and they both lay on the bed, lips locked for a considerable amount of time. Finally, they pulled apart slightly.

" I guess you're feeling better," Calliope said to him.

" I feel wonderful, better than ever!" He exclaimed.

" Would you like to get out for awhile?"

" Great. It feels like it's been ages since I used my feet, let alone seen the city."

" Okay. I'll go get a jeep, and you can get ready. I'll meet you at the front door, alright?" She asked him.

" Sure," X replied. Once she left, he got dressed in his street clothes, a plain white T-shirt with a thin leather vest and dark shorts. He met Calliope outside shortly, where she was at the wheel of one of the Maverick Hunter armored jeeps. He hopped into the passenger side, since he knew how much she loved driving the off-road monsters.

" Ready to go?" She asked him.

" Yeah, just don't run over any turtles this time,"

" Oh relax. That was an accident. I could hardly see the thing; it was so well camouflaged."

" Huh. I guess that proves that natural defenses don't always help." They continued idly talking for the rest of the trip to the city.

* * *

" How could you? How could you possibly lose!"

" Do not underestimate his power…"

" After all that bragging! You just went on and on about how **you **were going to win the war for us! Now look at you. One hunter almost completely destroyed you,"

" Calm down Violen. We still have a chance with the two of us. Besides, we have our trump card waiting to be played,"

" Don't bother calling in another force to attack him, Serges. I'll kill him myself,"

" You really think you can beat him?"

" Don't worry. You've got his location, right?"

" He's moving into the city, but his energy signature's low. I don't think he's wearing any combat armor,"

" Aw, that's no fun. I'll just have to stop by our friends the Maverick Hunters and get it for him,"

" Are you **insane**! With his new armor, he'll tear you to pieces!!!"

" Calm down, Agile. You should be resting,"

" …Okay, fine, but I gave you a fair warning,"

* * *

Drake sighed. _I can't believe that big dumbass got me stuck in here for a full extra day! _He thought to himself. People had been questioning him about why he had been outside and unconscious last night, and why there was a surgical knife missing from his tray. Oddly, nobody mentioned the body of Jawbreaker. Either nobody wanted to ask him about it, or the body disappeared. He suspected the latter, because the fine people here at MHHQ didn't really seem to care when or what they ask questions about, as long as they got answers. Chances were, they were answers Drake didn't want to give.

His thoughts were dashed as a visitor entered his room. " Well, if it isn't Chuckles himself," Drake spat at Magus, the leader of Special Unit 0. The two reploids had been at odds since the day they met; however nobody knows why. Some people say it's because Dr. Cain built Magus right after Drake, so it would just be another sibling rivalry. Others say it's just in their nature. Even though people argue as to why they fight, everybody just accepts the fact that the two will always quarrel.

" I don't have time for your sarcasm, runt," Magus retorted. Since Magus was a few good meters taller than Drake, this was a nickname that especially annoyed him.

" Look, why don't you just ask me your damn questions and get the hell out of my sight," Drake said, his face flushing at the mention of his nickname.

" Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be here any longer than I have to, either,"

" Then get it over with!"

" Okay! Okay! HQ has asked me to tell you that, when you're fully recovered, you must help us devise a strategy for taking down the BOL,"

" Why me? I don't have a tactician program!" Drake argued.

" No, you won't be doing any actual planning. God knows what would happen to our hunters if we let **you **lead us!" He said with a short laugh. "However, you're the only one to have actually been inside the compound. We may need your help in finding weak points,"

" Fine, I'll do what I can. Now, can you just leave me alone?" Drake asked with acid in his voice. Magus nodded, then turned and left the room. As he left, he chuckled to himself and muttered the word "Tactician," under his breath. Drake sighed and lay back in his bed. However, as soon as his head touched the pillow, the door opened again. " What is it now?" He barked agitatedly.

" I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?" Said a calm, assured voice.

" VR? Sorry about that, man. I thought you were someone else," He replied.

" You mean Magus?" VR asked. Drake nodded. " I would like to know why you two are constantly at each other's throats. It just isn't logical,"

" Take a number," Drake muttered. " So, whadda ya need?"

" I'm just curious as to the events that occurred last night. All I know is that there was some sort of fight outside, and you were somehow involved," Drake sighed again.

" Awright, I'll give ya the full story. This may take some time, though,"

" It makes no difference to me,"

" Suit yourself,"

* * *

Calliope relaxed as the cool, steady wind whipped her hair about her perfectly human-looking face and ruffled her favorite denim jacket. She took another bite out of her sandwich that she was sharing with X, who was sitting across from her and eating the other half. They were sitting at a table outside Toni's Bistro, one of their favorite places to eat in Neo Tokyo City. Both of them loved Italian, but Calliope especially loved it. Anytime they wanted to go somewhere to eat, it was usually Italian.

X seemed oddly quiet, like he was in another world. Calliope figured he was still just getting over the massive energy drain he experienced when his armor was mysteriously reconfigured. The R&D branch was still examining the armor and testing out its various abilities. Then, she noticed that X was staring at a little human girl wearing a navy blue dress who was wandering through the tables, looking for her mother. She occasionally called out, but no one answered. She seemed to be about five or six years old.

A pitying smile dawned on Calliope's face. She sincerely hoped that the little girl would find her mother. She turned back to gaze at X, but she was surprised to see that his face was ashen. In an instant, he stood up, his chair tumbling backward. Calliope stood up too, and she turned around just in time to see a large black sphere smash into the Bistro, sending huge chunks of duracrete raining down on the tables below. Reploids and humans scattered, running in every direction.

Several cries emanated from the tables nearest the building. A large slab of debris was crushing several people. " Help them!" X commanded to Calliope as he ran around the small table and dashed to the railing of the balcony. Suddenly, a large orange reploid landed in the plaza below. The same spiked ball that had smashed the bistro was attached to the reploid's back. To X's horror, he saw his new combat armor clutched in one of the reploid's giant hands.

" Come on down, Megaman X. The party's just begun!" The monster called up to him. With a single glance back to see if Calliope was okay, he jumped from the several meter high balcony and landed in front of the reploid, who was beginning to look very familiar.

" You're one of the X hunters, aren't you?" X asked. " Violen?"

" Good memory," Violen grunted. " Here," He tossed X his armor. " I want a fair fight. Hold nothing back,"

" I guess it was fair when you nearly killed those humans back there, huh?" X growled.

" What can I say? I like to make an entrance," Violen said with a devilish smile. X just stared at him as he attached his armor, unable to think of words to express his anger. He checked to make sure all of the energy lines were secure, then got into a fighting stance. Violen's smile suddenly disappeared, and he started swinging his body around, and the ball automatically detached from his back and started swinging above his head. Then, he thrust his body forward and turned sideways, launching the ball at X. He jumped, narrowly avoiding the projectile. However, Violen grabbed the end of the chain and pulled on it, swinging the ball back in X's direction. It hit him squarely in the back in midair, and he went tumbling to the ground. He got up quickly.

_Wow, _X thought, _I barely even felt that. This armor is amazing! _Violen frowned at the ineffectiveness of his weapon. The only mark to show for the attack was two little scratches on the back of X's armor. Most reploids would have been crushed by that maneuver. _He really is the legendary maverick-killer! _Violen thought. Now, he knew that he could not win. Still, he had to distract X for awhile until…

***

Calliope dug through the debris of the restaurant as fast as she could. The little girl was crying, which made her dig all the faster. Finally, she tossed a large hunk of debris away and found the humans, who were huddled against the wall of the restaurant. They were covered in dust and bruises, but they were very much alive. She breathed a sigh of relief, but then she noticed something. It was a small gray sphere with a single button on it. It was a detonator charge

Calliope gasped. " Run! Get out of-" her yell was cut off by the explosion, blasting her backwards. She tumbled head over heels until she hit the railing of the balcony. She was dazed, but reploids were built to withstand more than a single explosion. Also, she was at the edge of the explosion. The humans, however…

Calliope put a hand over her mouth to stop herself from screaming. The little girl's hand and forearm lay at her feet, charred and deformed.

***

X whirled his head around to look at the crumbling bistro, heard the explosion and the blast of heat. Violen was laughing quietly as a shred of the little girl's dress floated down onto the plaza. " My, humans are so fragile, aren't they?" Violen said with a smirk. X opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it. There was no way he could express the anger he was feeling. At least not with words.

With a roar, Megaman X dashed forward, and the new jet boosters on his feet threw Violen off guard. X slammed his shoulder into the beast and they both continued flying until Violen collided with a wall. His wrecking ball took most of the blow, and he could vaguely hear it crack and chip as the strong duracrete gave way. X stopped then, and pushed off of Violen's chest and jumped into the air. In midair, he launched a massive volley of energy bullets that all hit Violen squarely in the chest.

Before X even landed, he began charging up his buster. As he charged, he felt power growing in his other hand as well. His body told him all he needed to do. He loosed a powerful energy bolt from his buster arm, which took Violen in his shoulder joint, blasting away the armor and exposing the metal skeleton underneath. He held out his other hand, and an enormous energy wave burst forth with five energy balls trailing behind it, each as powerful as a charged energy bolt. They hit Violen's weakened shoulder, and the ensuing explosion engulfed both reploids. To X, it felt like a hot breeze, but to Violen, the world was engulfed in fire and pain, and he could no longer feel his arm, which was disintegrated. When the smoke and fire cleared, X was still standing there, his expression cold as death. He grabbed hold of Violen by his remaining arm and swung him back towards the middle of the plaza.

Violen skidded to a stop, dazed and bleeding energy out of his arm. X ripped a long neosteel pole out of the wall, then charged at Violen. " Stop," Violen asked weakly.

" What is it?" X's voice was dripping with rage.

" I just want to ask you one question," Violen said. " Have you ever retired a reploid that you thought was a maverick, but it really wasn't?" He waited for those words to sink in. Then, X's face contorted in horror.

" You're not…"

" That's right. I'm not a maverick. I joined with them because I craved action and war. After all, that is what I was built for." Violen coughed. " Replitech made me as their prime anti-maverick soldier. Ironic how things worked out," X was still in a state of disbelief. " Don't worry, Agile and Serges are mavericks. You can kill them without remorse, but what about me? How will you dispose of me, eh?"

" I don't care…" X began. "…If you aren't a maverick! What you did today is the worst crime any reploid could commit," His rage began to build again. " And for that, I can't let you live," Suddenly, Violen sprung up and launched his wrecking ball at X. He rolled to the side, twirling the metal pole around the chain as the ball flew harmlessly past. Then, he lunged forward, jabbing the pole into one of the chain links with pinpoint accuracy.

Grabbing the end of the pole, he spun it in midair, coiling the chain and the ball around it. Then, he ran towards Violen, but instead of killing him, he jumped over him, landing behind the fountain in the middle of the plaza. He wrapped the chain around the fountain several times, then stuck the pole into the ground, driving it through duracrete and gravel. Violen knew that he was trapped. His chain was tied to the fountain and the pole was driven into the ground so hard, even he could not pull it out.

Now, X slowly walked toward the trapped reploid. " Well, they were right about you," Violen said under his breath. " You are the most powerful reploid ever built,"

" Just be quiet and accept your death," With that, X began firing. In fact, it wasn't until moments later that X realized that he had pulled the trigger. Now, all that was left of Violen was a burned-out husk. Ashes covered the plaza and bits of metal were strewn everywhere. He began to breathe heavily. Suddenly, he felt overwhelmingly exhausted. Soon, Calliope rushed to his side, holding him against her as tears flowed freely from her eyes.

X looked at her, trying to say something comforting, but there was nothing he could say that would be appropriate. Suddenly, there was a flash of light behind them. " Well, I must say that even I am impressed!" Came an old and weathered voice. The two spun around to find an old reploid wearing a dark cloak and an odd black hat. He was clutching Zero's torso in his small hands. " Just remember, Maverick Hunter, there are still two of us. I will be back," In another instant, he was gone, with Zero's part lying on the ground. X bent down to retrieve it, and when he stood up, he noticed that a gathering of people had formed around them.

Most of them were humans, but a few reploid faces were mixed in. The humans all stared at the two Maverick Hunters with hate and malice glistening in their eyes. " You say you protect us, yet this happens! In the middle of this city even!" One of the humans barked angrily.

One woman with tear-filled eyes was quick to join in. " My baby is gone! How could you let this happen?"

" My uncle and aunt were in that explosion!"

" How could this happen in the middle of our own city?!"

" You reploids are all the same!" On and on the crowd of humans jeered at them. The reploids in the crowd just looked on in sympathy, as if they had seen this very same thing happen hundreds of times before. Calliope clutched X's shoulder tightly and buried her face in his chest. That was enough for Megaman X.

" Shut up! All of you! If you grieve so for the dead, then perhaps you would like to join them!" X raised his buster to the crowd and several humans backed away, terrified by the reploid's strength. " Don't think I won't do it," He growled, and his eyes began to take on a reddish hue.

" Oh god…" Calliope moaned as she looked up into his face, a face contorted in anguish. At the sight of his love so distressed, he lowered his buster and began to calm down a bit. Then, he spun around and walked toward their jeep, which was parked at the other side of the plaza. Calliope was quick to follow him, however nobody else made a move of any kind.

* * *

On the way back to HQ, neither X nor Calliope said a word. X's thoughts were spinning, and the most terrifying thought of all was that he was actually going to shoot those people. He was seconds from pulling the trigger before he snapped out of his trance. Another thought in his troubled head was the idea that he might be infected with the maverick virus. He quickly dashed that thought away, for it was a prospect he did not want to even consider.

He was also worried about the effects this day had on Calliope. Her beautiful, perfect face was red from the tears she had shed. Also, she had a faraway look in her eyes, one that was common for a victim of mild shock. X's face was almost the opposite, grim determination written across his face, completely concentrated on the task of driving on the nearly unused road leading to the MHHQ, which was coming up on the horizon. The sun was barely a sliver on their right side.

It was dark by the time they reached the HQ. After parking the jeep, X took Calliope into the building, his arm draped across her shoulders. However, as soon as he opened the door of the massive garage, a hunter was sprinting down the hallway toward them. " Megaman X! Where the hell have you been?" The young and inexperienced hunter called out as he reached the couple. " We've got crisis coming at us left and right, and you suddenly leave? All the officials are baffled, and I think I'm going to commit suicide before this night is over!" The hunter, who, in his bluster, had completely forgotten protocol when talking to superiors, had caught up to them.

" What is it now?" X asked wearily.

" We've got reports from Outpost Beta that there's been a huge disturbance in the city, and as many as six humans were killed!" X nodded, knowing all too well what he was referring to. " Not only that, but your armor disappeared from the 16th division armory earlier this afternoon after you left," The hunter stopped to take a breath. " To top it all off, Mobius has been found!" X was caught off guard by his last remark.

" Did you say Mobius? But, isn't that a good thing?" X asked the reploid.

" Not at all. That crazy bat won't let anyone near him, and we think he's hiding in the main lookout tower. He nearly killed two hunters!" X was beginning to get overwhelmed.

" Look, he doesn't attack people unless someone goes near him, right?" X asked. The hunter nodded. " Then leave it be for now. This day is getting longer by the moment," X sighed, as much from exhaustion of his energy supplies as of the hopelessness he felt. " If anything happens, wake me." He said. Again, the hunter nodded. In an instant, he was running off again, probably to report the situation to his superiors.

X looked to his lover, and saw the pain and exhaustion in her eyes. She looked back at him, then grabbed his hand tightly. After removing his armor, X and Calliope went back to X's room, where their journey had begun. Standing outside his door, he looked Calliope in the eyes, where that pained expression was still evident. He wrapped his arms around her, and she leaned against him, as she felt her legs go weak.

" Are you sure you'll be alright?" X asked her. She nodded, then closed the distance between them and gave him a tender kiss. X wiped a tear from her eye and bade her goodnight. Later, as X lay awake in his bed, thinking about all that had happened, there was a knock on the door. X opened it to find Calliope, wrapped in a blanket, standing outside his room. He quickly let her in and closed the door.

He was about to ask her what she was doing, but she spoke first. " Why do the humans hate us, Rock?" As she spoke those words, a tear began to slide down her face. He quickly rushed to her and wiped it away, then held her in a loving embrace. "We never did anything to them, we even saved their lives! And yet, they yelled at us," She looked into his face. " They treat us as if we aren't living beings. They just can't grasp the idea that even though we're based on mechanic principles, we're still alive. We still feel pain. We still love…" With those last words, she lowered his head to hers, and they embraced in the most passionate kiss either had ever known. Calliope let the blanket fall away, and he realized that she was only wearing her underwear. He had never seen so much of the woman's well-toned body, and it was a beautiful spectacle that would not be matched for a long time. The bronze tone of her muscles accentuated her entire body, and perfectly honed muscles ran along her arms and just barely shaped her torso into something so perfect that it didn't seem humanly possible. Her strong , shapely legs held her firmly in their embrace.

Calliope arched her back, letting out small moans to entice X even more, her soft body brushing against his. The feeling of her skin against his caused him to deepen the kiss to a new level, parting his lips slightly as he repeatedly pressed them against hers. Sensing this change in him, she parted her lips also, but the moment their tongues met, they broke the embrace, yet he still held her in his arms. They both blushed deeply, as they found that neither of them were ready to go that far. After moments of silence, Calliope dared to ask him a question. " Can I stay with you tonight?" She almost whispered the question. He nodded, however the mere thought of it brought a blush to his cheeks. She let out a small laugh. " I didn't mean _that_, Rock!" She said as she gave him a sly smile. X began to breathe a little easier. " I just want to be with you for a while longer," She gave him a playful kiss.

" I guess this means you're feeling better?" X asked her.

" Yeah, I guess I am," She replied. She stretched, contorting the ripples of muscle on her body. "I guess we should try to get to sleep then," She said. X nodded. That night, both of them slept better than they had in weeks.

****

End

AN: Well, on that happy note, this marks the end of my longest chapter to date. I hope everyone liked it, and no, X and Calliope didn't do anything 'funky', if you know what I mean. Even though things got a little steamy, I think they're both too pure to do anything like that. I'm not _that_ perverted. Or am I? Wait…no I'm not…I think… aw forget it.


	20. Chapter 18: Beginning of the End

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War 

Chapter 18: Beginning of the end

By Genoscythe

Burger, fries, and a coke. Don't bother me, I'm disclaimering.

Drake stretched his muscles for the first time in two weeks. He never believed he could be so happy just by standing up and using his body. He yawned, and the first thought that popped into his head was to go bug Megaman X. After quickly putting on his uniform, he briskly walked out of the med room he had grown to call home. He strolled through the minor injuries ward to the exit of the medlab, feeling more energetic with every breath.

Soon, he was walking down the hallway toward the 17th division's sleeping quarters at a brisk pace. He was at X's room when VR caught up to him. " Hey!" He called jovially to the reploid.

" Greetings," VR replied. " We have a private mission briefing from Dr. Cain himself in three hours,"

" Great, well I was just about to wake up X. We can probably think of somethin' to do for three hours," At that, Drake turned around and opened the door without knocking, like he always did. Instantly, he spun around, wearing an expression between guilt and bashfulness.

" What is it?" VR asked.

Drake blushed. " We…might want to leave X alone for awhile, ya know?"

" Well, what about Calliope?" This made Drake blush even deeper.

" Look, why don't we just go and grab a burger at the café or somethin'? We don't need them!" He said with a laugh as he nervously scratched the back of his head. VR looked at him oddly.

" Do you have a virus?" VR asked suddenly.

" What?"

" Your face is completely red," VR replied. " Do you need an anti-virus?"

" Wha- uh, no. I'm fine. Let's just get going," Drake said, waving his hands in front of himself. As the two reploids walked back down the corridor, Drake breathed a sigh of relief to be out of that awkward situation. He definitely didn't want to disturb X and Calliope on this day.

***

X was greeted by Calliope, her arms draped across his chest, lying next to him in his bed. Her light brown hair was spread out beneath her form, and her head was resting on his chest. Then, memories of the night before came back to him, and memories of that eventful day. He quickly put them out of his head as Calliope began to awaken. She shifted slightly, then opened her eyes. Without saying a word, he slipped his arms around her. Then, she gave him a smile, which he returned.

" Welcome back," X said to her. Suddenly, she rolled on top of him.

" I could say the same for yourself," She replied. Then, she began another passionate kiss, this time harder, more urgent. In the middle of it, though, she broke away. There was silence for a moment, and X finally decided to say what was on his mind. Once again, Calliope beat him to it.

" Do you think… maybe we shouldn't be doing this? I mean, I guess it just feels weird to be getting so intimate after just getting together," X was taken by surprise. " It's not you, it's just…" Suddenly, he began laughing. " What?" She asked.

" It's just that… I was about to say the exact same thing," He said. At this, her face brightened considerably.

" Really?"

" Yeah. Weird coincidence, huh?" He said.

" Yeah…" She trailed off as she realized that she was only wearing her underwear. She blushed, which she soon realized was a stupid thing, after all they had been through. " Hey, I just remembered something," Calliope began. " How am I going to get back to my room in my underwear?" X realized this as well.

" I'll go get you some clothes," He offered. She flashed him a smile. As he pulled on a shirt and jeans and headed for the door, she called out. " Thanks, Rock," He just smiled and gave her the thumbs-up sign. Moments later, he returned with her favorite tank top and denim jacket, a fresh pair of underwear and shorts. He handed them to her and she smiled, then turned around and began changing. Soon, she was fully clothed, and as she walked toward the door, she tossed her hair back and said, " We've got a lot of work ahead of us, so we'd better get going," X turned to smile at her. She gave him a playful wink, then left his sleeping quarters. He just stood there for some time, contemplating what was progressing between them. " I love her," He whispered.

***

" Glad you could join us," Drake said, with slight sarcasm, as Calliope sat down at their favorite booth in the Maverick Hunters' café, built next to the lobby.

" The pleasure is all yours," Calliope retorted. She was holding a tray with a bowl of salad and an energy cola. Drake leered at the tray.

" How can you last the entire day just by eating one _small _salad and an energy cola?" He asked quizzically.

" That's for me to know and for you to hope that some day I'll tell you," She replied.

" Man, you're cruel," With that, Drake took a huge bite of his hamburger and chewed with his mouth wide open in protest.

" That's sick," She said. He chewed louder. " Stop it!" She said angrily.

" Stop me yourself," He said while chewing, so that the words came out as " Sop we ursolf," Angrily, Calliope slammed her heel on Drake's toes, and he immediately spat hamburger meat all over the table. VR shook his head in disgust.

" Wow, you two are already at each other's throats? That must be a new record!" X called out as he walked through the other tables to join them. Their usual booth was adjacent to the large window that provided most of the light for the café, and since it was the farthest table from the door, they were usually secluded. However, today a young Maverick Hunter couple were sitting several tables away, and they soon left in disgust at the antics of two of the 16th Maverick Hunter Division's most wild hunters.

" I have stopped trying to separate the two back when I first joined the service," VR said as X sat down. He wasn't feeling very hungry, so all he had was an energy drink in his hand. Drake and Calliope took a moment to regard X, then, in unison, they pointed at each other and said,

" He/She started it!" X just shrugged.

" I'd love to stay and listen to you guys argue, but I've got some business to take care of," He said.

" Business like what?" Drake asked, cocking an eyebrow.

" Last night, some hunters found Mobius hiding in the lookout tower and they want me to get him out," Drake continued to stare at him without moving.

" What?"

" You heard me,"

" What?!?" Drake said again. X sighed.

" I know it sounds odd, but they seem to think I can talk some sense into him," He explained.

" Can you?" VR asked.

" I dunno," X said with a grin. " But the best I can do is try,"

" Fine, do what you want," Drake grumbled, taking a huge bite out of his hamburger. X turned to go, but VR stopped him.

" Wait, I will assist you," He said.

" Are you sure? Mobius nearly killed two hunters,"

" That does not concern me,"

" Great, well let's get going then. I have to stop by the armory just in case," X said as they exited. Drake's gaze left them and slowly turned toward Calliope, who mirrored the gesture.

" Oh great, I'm stuck with you," They both said in unison.

" Look, I've got other things to do than be near _you_," Drake said bitterly. He swallowed the last of his hamburger and left. Calliope leaned back in her booth and looked out the window at the blazing sun. Dust clouds began to sweep across the barren land along the cliff. She sighed and an overwhelming sense of calm swept over her. Looking out the window and taking things slowly, she began to believe that everything would work out fine. After the war, everything would be put aright, and the world could go back to the way it once was. She told herself this repeatedly, and soon it was all she could think about. Yeah, everything would work out fine.

***

VR was troubled. He wasn't troubled particularly because he was about to negotiate with a mentally warped and extremely dangerous reploid, which is what one would expect. Instead, it was Megaman X's new armor that was bothering him. He couldn't exactly say what it was that set him off, but there was almost a sense of familiarity with it. He shook it off as he and X made their way up the stairs to the observation tower. When they reached the door to the main deck, X bade him to stop.

" I'll go first. I've known Mobius since the First Maverick War, so he's bound to listen to me," He said. " I hope…" He added under his breath.

" I will cover your position in case of need," VR replied. X nodded and entered the vast, circular tower. There were three levels, the main deck, the sub deck, and the lookout post. All were connected by ladders. X quickly scanned the immediate area and saw no sign of the slightly deranged reploid.

" Mobius?" X called out. No reply, just as he expected. He drew his buster out and began sweeping the area. In a flash, something big and black was on top of him, pinning him helplessly to the ground.

" So you intend to kill me?" The creature barked.

" Mobius?" X asked.

" Do you want to kill me!?" It asked again. Suddenly, a gunshot silenced everything. The large creature fell off of X, and he looked for the source of the shot. VR was running through the doorway, magnums in hand. Then, X looked at the creature VR had shot. It was unmistakably a large black bat with blood-red eyes. 

" Mobius! What are you doing?" He yelled. The bat got up, trying to fan away the smoke coming from a bullet hole in his wing.

" Hiding, that's what!" Mobius spat. " And getting shot at, by the looks of it! You could have RUINED my wing!"

" I did not," VR replied cooly. " This gun is loaded with low-caliber rounds. Your actual flight performance should only be decreased by six percent," Mobius leered at the reploid.

" Where the HELL did you pick up a smart-ass like HIM?" He asked. X ignored the question.

" What happened to you? Where did you go after the maverick attack?" X asked. 

" After…the battle? I don't know," Mobius said. " All I remember is that the power went out… and all of the patients hooked up to life support were… then, I remember sitting up in this tower, and I saw you come in. That's all I remember,"

" So, you mean you do not remember anything at all in the past month?" VR asked.

" My god… a whole month?"

" Pretty much," X said. " Honestly, I don't know how you could be in an unconscious frenzy for an entire month without anybody finding you until now,"

" I wish I knew, too," Mobius said quietly. " I guess it was just too much seeing so many of my patients die, just like…just like in the first war…" Angst was written across Mobius' eyes.

" It wasn't your fault that those people died, Mobius," X said soothingly.

" I know that. I promise I'll make it up to them," He said. " I realized that maybe I should just forget being a medic, since it seems I'm so good at combat," He flexed his claw as he said this. " Those mavericks will pay in blood!" X smiled.

" I'm glad to have you back on our team, Mobius,"

" It's good to be back, X." Mobius said with a chuckle. Then, X narrowed his eyes.

" Your voice hasn't fluctuated like usual. Not since we started talking to you,"

" Hey," Mobius said. " I think you're right! Maybe I just needed to go into a rage to cure my insanity,"

" Yeah," X said, relieved.

" I need to go talk to Cain about switching jobs," Mobius said as he ran out the door and down the stairs. Both X and VR stood in silence for a moment, and it was VR who finally spoke.

" You did not tell him about the people he killed in the medlab when he lost consciousness," He said.

" He doesn't need to know," X replied. " You know, that's the happiest I've ever seen him before,"

" It would appear so,"

" I always told him he should become a hunter. You can put rage to far better use on the battlefield than when performing a delicate operation,"

" Mobius would appear to have plenty of rage inside of him,"

" Yeah, that's why we need him,"

* * *

Later, after six PM, Megaman X was walking down the 17th Division's sleeping quarters when he saw an unusual sight. Mobius and Dr. Cain were walking down the hallway towards him, possibly arguing the bat's position. The odd thing was that Mobius was walking on the ceiling, and the withered old Dr. Cain had to crane his neck to look up at him.

" You have no formal training. I don't feel right sending anybody without experience into a battle, at least not without preparing them," Cain argued.

" Master, I've seen more horrors in the medlab than most hunters see on the battlefield! I can take care of myself," Mobius countered. They both silenced as X approached them. " X, can you back me up on this?" The bat-like reploid called to him.

" I'm sorry Mobius, but-" Cain began.

" Let him," X said simply. Cain whirled his head to face him.

" What?"

" Let him become a Maverick Hunter if he wants," X repeated. " If you force him to stay as a medic, he won't work as hard as if he were doing something he liked," Mobius grinned, his smile showing a large row of fangs.

" See?" He said sheepishly. Dr. Cain appeared deep in thought for a while, grumbling under his breath.

" I'll think about it," He said at last." You'll sleep-"

" In the armory," Mobius finished.

" Fine, then," Cain said, obviously disgruntled. " Megaman X, come with me. We have many things to discuss," X nodded out of reflex, even though his grandfather's tone worried him. Cain motioned for him to follow him to his office. Once they were inside, Dr. Cain sat down slowly in his chair behind the mammoth wooden desk. Cain settled into his seat and gazed at X, his old, weathered face seeming to grow older by the minute. Finally, he spoke.

" X, I have with me several orders from the head of Neo Tokyo city," Cain took out several papers from one of the many drawers of his desk. " One is asking for your release from the Maverick Hunter Defense Force," He paused and sighed. " The other is demanding that you attend a trial for killing several humans in a blind rage," Dr. Cain stared long and hard at X, trying to read the emotions on his grandson's face. " Whatever it is you did-"

" Dr. Cain, it wasn't-"

" I know," Cain's response surprised X. " I didn't believe for a second that you would lose control and start killing humans. It's not in your nature,"

" Actually, I did lose control…" He said softly. " But I didn't kill any humans. It was Violen, the X-Hunter. Calliope and I were off duty, and…" X was fighting to choke back several tears forming in his electronic eyes. " We were at the Cherry Blossom Plaza when Violen appeared. He attacked several people, and killed them. I lost control and… I blew him to pieces…"

" X…"

" Also, he told me that he wasn't a maverick. I don't know if he told the truth or not, but if he is…"

" X, there are two kinds of mavericks that we have encountered," Dr. Cain said. " There are the kind that seem to have been infected with a virus, and the kind that joined their cause willingly. The latter was very common throughout the first war, but since the end of the war and the near-eradication of the mavericks, there are very few of them left. It is possible that he is one of those willing to fight the humans," He continued. " In which case, he would be considered a maverick," X sighed in relief.

" It is true that I lost control, but I never killed any humans,"

" In any case, you don't have to worry,"

" What do you mean, Dr. Cain?"

" The Maverick Hunters operate completely independent of the central government. A decree was passed that Maverick Hunters could act autonomously of the Neo Tokyo central government, so technically, you cannot be tried in a Neo Tokyo government court," X cocked his head in curiosity.

" How can someone pass such a decree? Wouldn't Maverick Hunters take advantage of this situation and go berserk in the city?"

" For one thing, Maverick Hunters can still be disciplined by me. If the central government deals with affairs of state, I deal with Maverick Hunter problems. For another thing, to become a maverick hunter, you would certainly have to have a great sense of justice, and the training process is far too rigorous for a punk wanting to cause trouble to go through.,"

" So… you're saying that I don't have anything to worry about?"

" You still need to keep your guard up, X. The central government is not inexperienced at double-crossing me," X sat there, in Cain's wooden guest chair, pondering these events.

" Also, you have worries of a different kind," Dr. Cain said at last. " I have an assignment for you to take care of, one that may prove extremely dangerous," X came out of his reverie. " One of the last maverick strongholds on Neo Tokyo Island is the Central Control. I want you to select a small attack team of about four or five hunters and reclaim it. We already discovered what we get when we try to take that blasted place by force, so I think a smaller team of more experienced hunters could pull it off,"

" I have just the hunters in mind," X said slyly.

" Beware, X. Magnas is very dangerous, and we don't know what the mavericks are planning to do with the place yet," Cain added. " Tread cautiously,"

* * *

"You want us to WHAT?" Drake cried incredulously.

" I want you four to storm Central Control with me," X said calmly.

" You're kidding! Twenty-three hunters were slaughtered in that place! You must be losing it if you think I'm going along," Drake said angrily.

" Quiet down, you little weasel," Mobius grumbled as he punched Drake in the arm.

" So, who's with me?" X asked.

" There's no way you're leaving me behind!" Calliope said enthusiastically.

" I'm dying for the taste of maverick blood," Mobius growled.

" My skills may prove invaluable," VR said emotionlessly. All eyes turned on Drake. He looked around frantically for support, then finally shrugged.

" It's better to die together than to die alone, am I right?" He said with a grin.

" All right!" X yelled. " We leave in 4 hours. The building is extremely heavily defended, so we need to take ride chasers," He said in a very commander-like voice. " If any of you need to take care of any business, do it now,"

" Well, look who's the new commander," Drake remarked.

" You'd make a great commander for the 17th," Mobius put in. After Genoscythe's disappearance, the position of Commander was never filled. Cain just sent orders to the 17th directly.

" I'm just doing what I have to," X said shyly.

" Isn't that what all commanders do?" Calliope asked soothingly. X nodded, contemplating the idea. Slowly, Drake, Mobius, and VR left the room, leaving X and Calliope alone. It was dead silent in the 17th division's recreation lounge.

" More than half of our forces are fortifying the city, right?" X asked to break the silence.

" That's what I heard," Calliope said detachedly.

" You know this mission is going to be dangerous…" X said.

" How is that different from any other mission?" She asked.

" You know what I mean. I can see how terrified you are about this,"

" I'm not terrified. I mean, I saw a whole battle contingent get torn to pieces by the reploid we're about to try and retire. What's so scary about…that…" Suddenly, she broke into tears.

" Cal…"

" I can't sleep until that traitor is dead!" She growled. " My comrades will get repaid, all right…"

" Calliope!!!" X yelled abruptly. Everything in the room went dead silent. He lurched forward and grabbed her by the shoulders. " I know how badly you want to see this traitor brought to justice, but do you really think revenge will solve anything? I know, probably better than anyone in this building, what it's like to want revenge, and I know that getting it doesn't make you feel any better!"

" That may not be true for you, but what about me!?" Calliope yelled back. " I know how much you hate war and violence, but it's not the same for the rest of us hunters! Warrior's energy flows through me, and I know that I won't feel well until I get my revenge," She yelled with venom.

" Do you?" The simple question stunned Calliope. In truth, she didn't really know what would make her happy again.

"…no…" She said softly. She felt X's grip on her shoulders loosen. After a few moments, he let go and turned on his heels.

" As long as you know what you want, come along. Don't take this mission for the wrong reasons,"

" I already told you I would follow you anywhere, and I mean that," She said sincerely. X said nothing. He just turned around and gave her a reassuring smile, then left for his quarters to finish recharging.

****

End


	21. Chapter 19: Saying Goodbye

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War 

Chapter 19: Saying goodbye

By Genoscythe

…Damn, can't think of one.

VR only wanted one thing before he left on the most dangerous mission he had ever undertaken. He needed to get a closer look at the armor Megaman X had gotten from his late creator, Dr. Light. When he entered the armory, it was almost empty. Armor and weapons used by the injured hunters were either being used by the remaining forces or given to civilian reploids who wanted to help out. All four of the other hunters assigned for the Central Control mission had their armor lockers closed, except for X's. VR could not quite figure out how or why it was open, but he took it as a godsend.

As VR opened the locker all the way, he once again saw the splendid armor that the Azure Hunter donned on missions. The sleek white and red combat armor was amazingly crafted. Even though it hadn't been repaired since X's encounter with Violen, it seemed in perfect condition. The new hunter reached out to touch one of the energy spikes on top of the white, blue and yellow helmet. As soon as his gloved hand met with the smooth exterior of the helmet, a shock went through VR's body. He jerked his hand back, but he could still feel the tingling of the electrical discharge.

Amazingly, an image began to appear on VR's blue-tinted visor. It was a holographic image of an old man, portly and bearded. " Ahh… You seem somewhat familiar…" The image began speaking. " I know I've seen your design somewhere…"

" Wh-who are you?" VR asked tentatively.

" Me?" The image looked surprised. " I am Dr. Thomas Light," VR was stunned.

" You mean…"

" Yes, the creator of Rock, who you know as Megaman, type X. I suppose you could call me…the father of robotics,"

" What are you doing in my head?" the surprised reploid asked.

" That is not important, and far too complicated to explain," The image of the dead doctor continued. " The question is, how am I in your head?"

" It should be impossible…" VR said.

" Impossible for most reploids, yes. Not for a reploid I built…" Dr. Light trailed off. Neither spoke for a moment, then suddenly Dr. Light's image went wide-eyed. " I remember you now! You're the Virtual Reproduction unit I was designing!" VR could barely comprehend what the doctor was saying. Did he mean that Dr. Light built him?

" Wait, I was built on a Replitech assembly line!" VR interjected.

" You're almost right. I did not build you, but I had made detailed blueprints and data files about you. The only thing I had not finished calculating was your Core Processing Chip,"

" But then, if you didn't build me, then who did?" VR inquired.

" Replitech did. You were a special project undertaken after Dr. Cain found the data files I had made about you,"

" How do you know all of this?" He asked.

" I'm scanning your memory and processors as we speak. Also, I've been installing a new program into your system while I was answering your questions. It's the Core Processing system that I never was able to finish… oh my, this is horrible! Are all reploids installed with this CPC?"

" Most of them are, at least the new ones are anyway," VR said. The image looked disheartened.

" This is exactly what I feared…why does humanity keep repeating the same mistakes?"

" What do you mean, Dr. Light?"

" Listen to me carefully. I want you to shut down Replitech and erase all data files on reploid design,"

" Why?" VR asked.

"…There. The program is completely installed and the virus has been deleted."

" Virus!?" VR said, fear-stricken. " What virus?"

" I am running out of time. I fear my energy can only last for so long," The image said.

" Wait! I need to know something!" VR begged.

" Please make it quick," Dr. Light said.

" What does 'Virtual Reproduction unit' mean?" He asked.

" It means that you are the physical manifestation of my two sons, the first two robots I created."

" You mean I'm…"

" Yes, I created you to replace Rock and Blues. I'm afraid I died before I could give you a name, though." VR was trying to understand what the image was saying. It was reasonably hard to accept the fact that VR was designed solely to replace Dr. Light's dismantled sons, but there was still one question he had to ask.

" Will you give me a name?" He asked hopefully. The image sighed.

" A name is a precious thing. It takes time to think of the perfect name, and I'm afraid I cannot take that responsibility alone. I will think about it, but you have to decide for yourself what your name should be. I can only make suggestions."

" But you're my creator! You have to give me a name!"

" Ah… running away from your responsibility, I see. The new program is already in effect. You must learn to accept responsibility, just like any human. You have become a sentient being now. You can make your own decisions. My only advice is to make the right ones." The blue-tinted hologram of the old man began to flicker and fade out. VR was about to call out to him, but stopped himself. He knew it was useless to try and call him back.

VR just stood there, watching the image fade away, all the new sensations and thoughts whirling through his head. He heard X's locker slam shut, but he didn't realize if he'd closed it or not. After several minutes, VR slumped against the row of lockers and shut down, hoping the void would help him sort out his thoughts.

***

Drake paced the inside of his modest sleeping quarters. He was clutching his multi-task assault rifle tightly, chanting to himself. He found he had checked the ammo gauge twice every five minutes for the past hour. Finally, he threw the gun down onto his bed. He gave a half-hearted laugh at the fact that reploids didn't even need beds, that they were just another one of the many devices made to make reploids feel more human. Then, he chastised himself for letting his mind wander.

Then, he got mad for talking to himself. " This is insane…" He kept repeating. Now, normally he would be nervous about a mission like this, but not as nervous as he was now. His current level of fear was attributed to the transmission that had played on every video screen across the HQ about two hours ago. It showed the live video feed of the massacre that occurred at the Central Control near the beginning of the war. All through the gruesome display Magnas, the traitor, was explaining the chances of the Maverick Hunters' success if they tried to destroy the main maverick attack force. Those chances weren't good.

Once again, Drake began pacing. He looked out the window at the setting sun. It was blood red. " Great," Drake muttered through his teeth. " Just the kind of omen I need," He resumed his pacing. "This is insane…this is insane…" He looked at the chronometer on the wall. Half an hour to go…

***

" How did Magnas manage to hack into the system?" Megaman X asked nervously.

" We don't know!" The operator yelled angrily. " All of the firewalls are still in place, and he didn't bypass any of the security systems,"

" Check the video systems," X said. The operator began typing hurriedly on his console. It was about two hours ago when the former Maverick Hunter had contacted the Hunter Base. The images that had accompanied the message were gruesome, and X recognized them as security camera recordings from the Central Control. 

" It looks clean, nothing……What the hell?" The operator looked surprised.

" What is it?" X asked.

" It's Magnas's transmission. Somehow he implanted the data into the video mainframe, but…"

" Call it up."

" What?"

" Can you play the transmission again, on this screen?" X asked.

" Sure, but…why?"

" I just want to take another look at it, that's all," Suddenly, the screen flickered. It showed the first hunter's head being crushed.

" As you can see, the power of the Purifier army is easily greater than yours." Magnas began. The images continued. " We have amassed a huge force, nearly ten times the amount of Maverick Hunters, and we have a trump card," X watched as a hunter's mechanical spine was torn out of his back and split in two. " Whether all our warriors are destroyed or not, Neo Tokyo City will be leveled. You cannot stop us." Magnas sent pieces of debris flying at the hunters, smashing their heads in. " Also, I have complete control over your HQ. All automatic gun turrets and electronic systems are under my control. I find it amusing that I could destroy you with but a single thought, yet I stop myself every time I try. It just isn't fun if there is no battle." The final image, the one of Jett's torso being punched through, told the end of the transmission. " Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…" Magnas said as a cryptic finish.

" Damn it, no wonder Calliope is scared…" X muttered under his breath.

" I'm sorry, sir?"

" Forget it, it's nothing. Look, can you shut down the security systems inside the HQ?"

" Yes, sir." The operator began typing again. " I shut off all the security systems, sir. Including the cameras and automatic gun turrets."

" Good. We can't take the chance that he'll use these things against us." X said. He turned to leave, but the operator stopped him.

" Wait a minute, sir… the systems! They're starting up again!"

" What!?"

" All the security systems I shut down are starting up again!"

" What the hell are you talking about?" Suddenly, the monitor turned black. Words began appearing on the blank screen.

" 'Bad idea, Maverick Hunters. You should know that I can turn on anything I see fit'" The operator began reading it aloud. " 'I have complete control. Don't do something foolish like that again.'"

" Damn, Magnas is just playing with us!" X growled. Angrily, he stormed out of the control room. Looking at that recording again, X felt a kind of fear that he had not felt in quite some time. It was a kind of fear that sunk into his CPC and chilled his entire body. It was times like these that X wished reploids weren't so human.

***

Half an hour later, X was waiting in the ride chaser hangar. He wanted to get there early because he wanted to get an early start, and he didn't have anything else to do. After waiting for a while, he started to get bored. He began waving his buster around like he was scanning for an enemy, and when Calliope jumped out from behind a pillar, he almost shot her.

" Whoa! Careful where you point that thing!" She cried. X lowered his buster.

" Calliope? What are you doing here? We still have ten minutes left before the mission," He said.

" I know, but… I kinda figured you would be here,"

" Me?"

" Yeah. I wanted to spend my last few minutes alive with you," She said with a half-hearted laugh. X tried to laugh, too, but found that he just didn't feel like it. She stepped up closer to him and draped her arms across his shoulders while laying her head on his chest armor. " Whenever I'm with you, I realize just how much I have to live for," she said.

" Now, don't start crying again…" He began stroking her hair. " We'll make it. We always have in the past, right?"

" This is different, though. You saw the video transmission,"

" We've already gone through this. We can do it, and if we can't, then it just wasn't meant to be," She looked up at him. " Always believe everything will work out for the best."

" Rock…" He stroked her cheek.

" I know," Suddenly, a loud clang resounded from the back of the hangar, near the door, and a familiar voice started swearing explosively. Drake walked into view, muttering about tripping on some debris.

" Stupid piece of shit technicians… always leavin' stuff lyin' around… oh, hey guys!" Drake said with a nervous laugh as he looked up. " Where's everyone else?"

" Probably saying their prayers," X said jokingly. They all knew that the jokes were only aimed to relieve tension, but it felt good to laugh, even if it was forced.

" Hey," Drake began. " This is going to be just like old times. The three of us on ride chasers, sneaking into a maverick base. I just hope we don't get blown away this time, huh Cal?"

" Yeah," Calliope muttered, conjuring the memory of their first mission together as a group.

" Well, this time we have Mobius and VR to cover us, so we can all make it in this time," X said.

" Speaking of, I wonder where they are?" They waited in silence for several moments.

" I see we're the only punctual ones, huh?" VR's voice called out from the hangar door. He and Mobius walked in and moved to where the other three hunters were standing. Mobius was decked out in his new blood-red combat armor. " Well, can we go, or is our new mission to just stand here while the mavericks slaughter all the humans?" VR said cheerfully.

" VR, you seem… different," Calliope dared to say.

" Yeah, you're not talkin' in technobabble anymore," Drake put in.

" It's a long story, so I'll tell you later."

" We have to get moving anyway," X said. They all got on their appropriate ride chasers.

" Any last words?" Calliope called out over the hum of the hover engines.

" Today is a good day to die," Mobius said.

" It's never a good day to die," Drake grumbled. X narrowed his eyes. This was it. There was no turning back now.

" Let's go,"

****

End

AN: I made a new record! A new chapter in (calculating…) two days! That's the fastest update I've ever made! (Sniffle) I'm so happy…(Sniff)


	22. Chapter 20: Infiltration, part 1

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War 

Chapter 20: Infiltration part 1

By Genoscythe

Teacher, my dog ate my disclaimer.

" This is the last security checkpoint inside the city, so if you need to do anything, do it now." A gruff hunter said to Megaman X. He and the other four hunters decided to stop at one of the security checkpoints set up by the Maverick Hunters in case there was a large scale maverick assault. " Look, we estimate a huge amount of mavericks infesting the city beyond this point. We have all the latest weapons and equipment, so tell your people to pick up as much firepower as they can carry,"

" I will," X said, giving the reploid a curt salute. " Thanks," He rejoined his modest battle group at the ammo storage tent. Predictably, Calliope was absorbed in examining a new type of grenade, Drake was rifling through the ammo boxes and VR was conversing with one of the other hunters inside the tent. Mobius was running reconnaissance in the city ahead to estimate what they would be going through, but it looked like he had already taken a pair of shotguns from the rack. 

In minutes, everyone was ready. Drake had too much ammo to carry, so he had to get a belt from one of the hunters inside the ammo tent. By the time they left the storage tent, Mobius had returned and was waiting less than patiently with the commander of the defense force.

"You're telling me that the whole area is swarming with mavericks?" Mobius asked, seemingly ticked-off.

" That's right. I could pull it up on the scanner right now," The commander replied coolly.

" Bull crap. I just flew from here to the Central Control and back, and I didn't see any life signs at all! No heat signatures or anything!"

" How could you really know if there were mavericks in the area or not?" The commander sighed. Mobius leaned in close to him.

" These eyes see more than those puny little scanners of yours," The bat said cryptically. The maverick hunter glared at him.

" We'll see who's right when you charge into a storm of enemies just waiting to tear you apart,"

" Well, I'll be sure to send them your way, then," Mobius said with a cruel laugh. He walked over to his companions near the ride chasers. " I haven't had this much fun in years!" He exclaimed, waving a pair of fully automatic shotguns in the air. X smiled at Mobius. He was glad they had made the right choice concerning the bat's job.

***

"…And the weird thing is, the only heat signatures I'm getting are from the Central Control," Mobius was filling the hunters in on his reconnaissance trip. " Some of the buildings around here have electricity, but if there was any kind of activity, I'd know about it,"

" Well, I guess that's good news, then," Calliope said. Then, as they were riding past one building, she saw that the lights were on. Even more importantly, she noticed that there were four chairs lined up in front of the window, with four torn-up human corpses sitting in them, as if to watch a great spectacle outside. Calliope screamed, and inadvertently swerved, almost clipping Mobius's wing.

They all turned to look at her, but she just shook her head. " I don't want to talk about it," She said. The others understood, but they were on edge now. Speeding through the streets, X could feel that they were very close to the Central Control. At the next turn, they would be in view of the mega particle cannons placed to guard the large tower. X gave the signal to speed up.

Suddenly, an intense beam of energy blasted through the nearest building, barely missing Mobius. The hunters immediately pressed down hard on their turbo buttons and raced to reach the last turn. The first beam was followed by a wave of others; only pure luck kept the hunters alive and unscathed. X began to slow down a bit, right as a beam skimmed the front of his ride chaser and another flew past his head. He wanted to look back and make sure everyone was alright, but if he diverted any of his concentration, he would be blown apart. The building, now completely pulverized, toppled over, sending rocks flying into the air. VR thought a beam had hit his ride chaser, but he didn't take the time to look. He tried to speed up, but his chaser had been seriously damaged.

X turned the corner going at full speed, and the hover units on his chaser began to attract to the wall of the building he was turning from. The moment of fear as he turned sideways quickly passed as the chaser righted itself. Still squeezing the turbo button as tightly as he could, he jetted for the towering Central Control. He felt his mechanical body take control of him as he dodged burst after burst of energy beams.

In the back of his mind, he could feel the ride chaser speeding up; apparently he had broken the Speed Limitation Gear. He was going fast enough to be crushed like a tin can if he ran into a wall, but as long as he kept dodging the laser beams, he didn't care how fast he went. He knew he was getting close, that he was heading straight for one of the huge mega particle cannons in front of the entrance. X closed his eyes and murmured, " Time to see what this new armor is really worth,"

Impact. X crossed his arms over his chest, covering his face. Metal and circuitry flew everywhere, soon followed by a massive explosion, enveloping his body in fire and debris. He smashed through the back of the cannon, trailing ash and smoke. The force of his impact severely lessened, X careened into the wall of the huge blue tower with just enough speed to puncture the wall. As he landed, he began rolling and didn't stop until he slammed against the far wall of the entryway. He stayed curled into a ball for several moments, then unfurled himself to check the damage.

He was extremely sore in several places, but the new armor had unbelievable shock absorbers and impact countermeasures. He checked the back of his arm plates, which took the most damage. They were scarred and dented, and more than half-charred. His chest and leg armor were also burnt and cut. His head was surprisingly unharmed. One of the energy spikes on top of his helmet was nearly gone, but all other damages were minor.

Drake was the second to make it, and by the time he got to the entrance, his chaser was trailing smoke and it had several large holes punctured near the engine. It was going at half the normal speed, so he just deactivated it and ran through the door. His face wore an expression between joy and bewilderment at seeing X sitting against the far wall of the modest lobby.

"…You…you're alive!" Drake exclaimed excitedly.

" It takes more than that to take me down," X panted.

" Yeah, try an atomic bomb,"

" How's Cal… I mean, how's everyone else?" X asked.

" I don't know. I was behind you, and I couldn't do anything but try not to get blown to hell." Drake said exasperatedly. Apparently, he was as worried as X was about the rest of the hunters. " Should we wait for 'em?"

X was about to reply when Calliope crashed through the door on her ride chaser, nearly crushing Drake in the process. He had to jump out of the way as reinforced metal plates flew at him. Calliope jumped off of her chaser at the instant it hit the doors, and she landed gracefully on the tile floor. Immediately, when she saw X propped against the wall, she ran to him and flung her arms around him.

Drake turned around and muttered something about getting a room, when he saw Mobius and VR desperately trying to dodge the incoming fire from the remaining particle cannons. They were in the middle of the expansive parking lot, but VR's ride chaser was trailing a dangerous amount of smoke. Immediately, Drake ran outside towards the nearest particle cannon. As he ran, he heard X call, " Drake! Where the hell are you going?" Then, he saw VR and Mobius. He started to get up, but Calliope gently pushed him back down.

" I'll help him. You rest and try to repair yourself," She said as she spun around and ran after Drake.

Drake climbed up a service ladder on the side of the nearest mega particle cannon, until he was at the top. Pulling out his assault rifle, he began firing blindly at the control panel, tearing apart metal and wiring. The cannon began to slow its rate of fire, and its targeting was off. When he ran out of machine gun rounds, he switched to shotgun mode, not wanting to waste time reloading. One shot from the shotgun caused a large explosion from the main battery than flung Drake off the side of the hulking cannon.

He got up in time to see Calliope running back inside the building. " Get in here!" She called as she ran past. He followed her, and just as he got inside, he heard a huge explosion that would have deafened a human. He poked his head outside to see that the reploid woman's explosive had not only destroyed two beam cannons, but it had also seriously damaged a third and had blasted an incredibly large hole in the wall.

Now, only two gun batteries remained firing at the two hunters. Mobius was able to easily slip through the cannons' blind zone, but instead of going inside, he decided to go after the remaining cannons. Mobius looked back and saw that VR's ride chaser was completely demolished, and he didn't have much time. He flew on top of the first cannon and began tearing through the metal plating above the beam generator. He quickly tore his way to the generator and, grabbing it with a strong vice grip, ripped it free of the cannon and hurled it at the other remaining cannon.

The resulting explosion was large, but nothing to rival Calliope's new explosives. VR, seeing that the cannons had been taken care of, ran toward the tower to join his friends. Once they were all assembled, X began to go over the plan with everyone else.

" Each of these parts are solo jobs, except for the hunters taking out Magnas." Calliope glanced at him as he said this, and he nodded to her.

" I'll take the ventilation shaft to the elevator controls," VR said.

" I can track down that generator thingy," Drake said.

" The power generator?" X asked.

" Yeah, that one," The green reploid muttered.

" Remember not to blow it until we get to the Mainframe," X reminded him. Drake just nodded.

" Then, I guess I'll secure an escape route for you guys," Mobius put in. " I don't really feel like taking on that Magnas freak, anyway,"

" Then it's settled. You all know what you have to do," X said as Calliope helped him to his feet. Drake and VR started off down the hall, and Mobius ran outside and flew up to the roof to scout out possible escape points if the entrance was blocked. Calliope and X started to walk down the hall to their left.

" I can't believe we all made it in," Calliope said.

" Talk about pure luck," X agreed. " I guess we've improved quite a bit since we last tried that little stunt,"

" Yeah, but that was the easiest part…" Calliope trailed off as they came to a junction in the hallway. It was the same place where Magnas had betrayed the hunters before. To Calliope's horror, all of the corpses of her comrades had been nailed to the wall, with sadistic grins painted on their lifeless faces. X's eyes narrowed and he growled, " Son of a…"

Then, they noticed a scribbled message written in pen on the floor in front of a familiar corpse. Calliope recognized it as Jett's body. The note read:

__

Dear miss Calliope,

I went through the trouble of having my minions take this hunter's body from the medlab during our little siege on your base. It was quite troublesome, but do you know why I went through all this? I wanted you to remember me, and all the fun we had the night I joined the Purifier army. I also wanted to thank you for being so kind to me then. Consider this a memento to remember our time together by.

I suppose you've come to hunt me down now, have you? It couldn't be helped, but I must kill you to insure the success of the Purifiers. It's nothing personal, and just to show you that I mean it, I will kill you first, so that you will not have to watch your comrades die. Please don't think I'm evil, for it is the humans who have corrupted this land and subjected our race to torture who are the wrongdoers. We must purify this world of those scum, and if you will not be a part of it, then please know that I am sorry.

Love,

Magna Centipede

Calliope began shaking uncontrollably. X reached out to touch her on the shoulder, but suddenly she pulled out one of her beam swords and plunged it into the center of the message, burning a significant hole in the ground. She continued trembling with rage even as a tear began to slide down her cheek. Then, Calliope felt a gloved hand wipe away that tear, and she was suddenly aware that X was holding her close to him, whispering to her. For some reason, she couldn't hear what he was saying. All she felt was pure anger and hatred for Magnas, the traitor.

As suddenly as her reverie began, it ended. Calliope broke down into sobs while holding onto X for support. " I want to get out of here," She whispered. He nodded, and led her back to the lobby while they waited for VR to find the elevator controls.

***

Things were progressing smoothly for VR, and he hadn't encountered any resistance yet inside the ventilation shaft or out of it. He was crawling on his stomach, finding it difficult to move through the small shaft with his bulky armor and shield. He exchanged the shield for the weapon carrier he took on previous missions because this was more of a stealth mission, and didn't require the use of heavy firepower.

When he reached another turn, he was startled by a mechaniloid spider-crab, a machine used primarily to take over large, yet lightly defended civilian buildings. This was the main unit the mavericks had used to lure the Maverick Hunters to the Central Control in the first place. Once it spotted VR, it let out a piercing cry, almost like a hiss, and VR had little time to kill it before others heard the call. He pulled out one of his .375 magnums and shot the control casing, blasting off the mechaniloid's 'head'. However, it was too late. He scrambled to get around the corner, pushing the mechaniloid out of the way. However, when he turned the corner, he was met by at least thirty of the small machines, their pincers clacking wildly.

VR backed up to consider a plan. He couldn't take out all of them with his pistols, and without his weapon pack, he didn't have anything more useful. Suddenly, he remembered seeing a vent panel under the large crowd of mechaniloids. If he could shoot it, it might drop out and get rid of a few of the mavericks. Readying one of his guns, he carefully slid it around the corner so as not to excite the mavericks. He saw that there was indeed a panel. Taking careful aim, he shot one of the panel's hinges off, and the mavericks clinging to it fell with it.

The others, excited by the sound of the shot, swarmed at him. He began firing with both guns as he backed up. He took down a few, but they were moving too quickly to get a good shot at. Suddenly, he accidentally kicked open one of the vents under him, and he fell through to the floor below. He hit the ground in a roll, stopping with his back against the floor, holding his guns at the ceiling vent.

Everything was silent for a moment. Then, the sound of chittering claws erupted from the vent, and streams of mechaniloids fell through the hole, nearly landing on top of VR. He rolled backwards and onto his feet, blasting at the spider-like machines on the floor. He was firing as fast as he could, but he could not keep back the wave. Several latched onto his legs, and he immediately blasted them off.

As soon as he destroyed those, however, more jumped at him. He backed up until his back was pressed against hard steel. He took several seconds to see what he had backed up into. His hopes soared as he realized it was a door. In the seconds it took for him to look away, two mechaniloids grabbed his arm. With his other hand, he slammed the access button, and the door slid open. He jumped back, pressing the access button on the other side as soon as he could find it.

The door slid closed, almost crushing one of the mechaniloids. VR grabbed the two on his arm and threw them down, smashing them to bits with his heavily armored foot. The clattering of claws could be heard on the other side of the door as VR slumped against the wall, checking his surroundings. He was in a vast, open room with computers lining the walls. He walked over to one and looked at the large screen.

A green target reticule appeared to be scanning the hallways for something. The image VR was seeing must be coming from a remote sentry or floating camera, since it was flying through the hallways. VR's eyes narrowed as the image turned a corner and spotted Drake, who was calmly walking through the corridor, whistling and twirling his gun on his finger. The reticule suddenly turned red as it passed over Drake, and the screen began displaying large amounts of information.

VR knew that this could only be a bad thing, and he tried to shut it off via the console. Nothing happened, so he tried speaking through an intercom on the side of the console. No sound could be heard. Angrily, he slammed his fists into the computer console, severely denting the metal plating. Then, Drake turned around.

" What the hell…" He murmured as he studied the screen. Suddenly, he pulled up his gun and blasted the camera away, filling the screen with static. VR sighed. Now there was nothing he could do for his friend but pray.

****

End of part 1

AN: Really sorry about how long it took to get this chapter out. It was difficult finding time to work on the story during the holidays, especially since we just got a new HP Pentium 4. Of course, all my files are still on the uber-crappy old computer, and the internet is also hooked up to this thing for reasons that are too complicated and boring to explain. On the bright side, the new CPU plays all my games perfectly, has a whopping 160 gigs of hard drive space (The old one was 13 gigs), and it runs almost silently, so I no longer run the risk of waking up everyone in the house when I want to use the computer. Alas, my files are still on the noisy, crappy, video cardless, 13 gig computer.

All I'm really trying to say with this excruciating rant is that production will be a little slow, but I'm only planning on doing three(possibly four?) more chapters. Now, stay tuned for more lunacy0_0 


	23. Chapter 20: Infiltration, part 2

**__**

Megaman X2: Eternal War 

Chapter 20: Infiltration part 2

By Genoscythe

Hey, I only have to write a disclaimer three more times!

AN: Alright, a million apologies to all my fans who no doubt have been less than pleased with the huge break between chapters. I wish I could give a good explanation, but I really can't. Part of the reason why this chapter came out so late is that one of my friends got me hooked on Ragnarok, and I spent a great deal of my time on the computer playing said game. Also, I'm writing another story, an original fantasy that I want to have published as opposed to putting it on the internet. I realized that by putting it on a website like Fanfiction.net, I leave it open for someone to steal it and publish it and make millions. I haven't thought of a title yet, and I have a ways to go before I'm finished, but I'll somehow let you know what to look for if any of you are interested. 

Anyway, that's beside the point. What got me started in writing again was going onto Fanfiction.net and finding that nobody has posted a death-threat review for my long absence yet. This was very reassuring, and showed me that my fans were still eagerly awaiting the next chapter (Not trying to sound presumptuous or anything). So here you go. Enjoy.

Drake glanced around frantically, looking for any traps that had been sprung by his discovery. The hallway looked secure, but he wanted to be positive. He took an empty magazine out of his belt and tossed it down the hall. It clattered to the ground and stopped at the corner. Everything seemed to be fine, but…

Drake looked closer at the empty mag. It was cut perfectly into two halves. All at once, he understood what had happened. He pressed a button on his helmet and an infrared visor pulled down over his eyes. Sure enough, thin red beams going horizontally from one wall to the other showed up on his visor. 

" Damn it," Drake groaned. They were laser cutter nets, commonly used in home and office security. Almost any known metal could be cut easily by these things with laser precision. They also left no large gaps to crawl through, so the only way to get through them is either by deactivating them, or going through in pieces.

The emerald hunter sighed and slumped against the wall. Thinking was never his strong point, but it was the only option he had left.

***

VR had already checked every door in the room, and found that they were all locked, save the way he came in. Frustrated, he decided to look at some of the control consoles to see if there was anything useful that he could find. He did find one interesting console. On it, he found the controls for the IT/radio wave disrupter. " This could be important…" VR thought out loud. He flipped several switches, and he began to hear a dull hum coming from somewhere above him. Slowly, the sound faded away. Turning on his radio transmitter, he hailed Megaman X.

" VR? Is that you? I thought our radio signals were being jammed," VR heard through the comm. link.

" I disabled the jamming device, sir,"

" Great. Where are you now?" X asked.

" I don't know, actually. I'm in a large room with several control consoles." Then, VR added " All the doors are locked." There was a brief silence as X thought.

" I'll go find the security control room. Wait there," The transmission was cut. Once again, VR found himself waiting for something to happen.

***

Drake was still in the process of figuring out the least fatal way to get through the defense system when he got an unexpected call from X.

" Drake! Are you there?" The transmission caught him completely off guard, as he assumed all radio transmissions were being jammed.

" 'Course I'm here. The transmitter's only connected to my damn helmet!" He said agitatedly.

" …Right. Well, VR took care of the jamming device, so I just wanted to check your status."

" My status, huh? Well, my _status_ is fine. My _status_ is freaking wonderful. My _status_ couldn't be better! _I'm_ knee-deep in shit, though."

" Okay, fine! Have it your way. How are _you _doing?"

" Not so good. I'm trapped behind a laser cutter net, and I have absolutely nothing to do. Say, you didn't bring my Gameboy X1500 did you?"

" You aren't helping," X said exasperatedly.

" I'd be in a better mood if I wasn't so bored and scared. Those two aren't a good combo for me," Drake said.

" Well, it's a good thing I called you. I'm heading to the defense system station right now, and I'll disarm the beams when I get there."

" That'd be right fine of you, neighbor." Drake said sarcastically.

" Shut up." X hissed. He was about to retort, but then he realized that X was serious. He waited, and at length, X said, " I'm cutting transmission. There's something coming. Something big." Drake sighed and turned off the transmitter.

" Damn good time to run into some maverick," He grumbled. " I wish I could get some action here. Then maybe I wouldn't be so stressed." Drake thought he heard a footstep to his left, at the end of the corridor. He looked, and there was nothing. " Shit, X. Hurry up…"

***

X dropped to the ground and fired at the large mechaniloid before him as one of its fists soared above his head. He had never seen a model like it. It had a rounded body, with large, curved forearms ending in large claws. Its head was a mono-camera design, with a wickedly grinning mouth full of teeth under the 'eye'. Its legs were short, but they could propel it several meters into the air, as X learned. It was colored different shades of green, and its color scheme almost matched that of Drake's armor. The mechaniloid lunged at him again, and X had no time to get up.

It landed on top of him, completely pinning him to the ground with its powerful arms. He tried to move, but all efforts were worthless. Its head suddenly began to vibrate wildly, as energy was being gathered into its mouth. X struggled, and his energy reserves began to activate, giving his joints added strength and disconnecting the pain receivers in his arms and legs.

X freed his legs, and pulled them up to his chest. With an intense burst of strength, he kicked the mechaniloid in the stomach and sent it flying into the air. It landed hard on its back, flailing its arms and kicking out with its small feet. X walked over to the prone mechaniloid and raised his blaster to his head, letting loose a fully charged shot at point blank range. There was nothing left of the robot's upper torso.

He had no time to marvel at his new blaster, as both Drake and VR were now depending on him. He raced down the hallway, following instructions from a map he had downloaded from a wall panel. He also wanted to get back to Calliope as soon as he could. It was hard enough leaving her in the first place. He turned a corner, then went into a small side hall that lead directly to the security control center.

In front of X, a myriad of consoles confronted him. After quickly looking them over, he flipped the appropriate switches and pressed the right buttons. In seconds, he got a call from Drake.

"I dunno what ya did, but it worked. Thanks man," He said.

"Just doing my job," X replied.

"On my way to the generator. Gimme a call when you want me to blow this thing," He said as he switched off his communicator. X then called VR.

"VR? I disabled the locking systems,"

"Great. I'm on my way," Came the reply. VR's communicator switched off as well. As X headed back to the lobby, he began to wonder why Magnas had unlocked all of the doors for them except the ones VR had encountered. Maybe the ex-hunter was just cocky. At least, that's what X hoped it was…

" So, the little rats are finding their way through the maze, eh?" Magna Centipede hissed.

_~ Just kill them now while you have the chance. We can't let them take the central computer.~ _The head of the infamous Sigma spoke from a monitor on the reploid's control console.

" You have nothing to fear, my lord. You know what I did to the hunters who came before, do you not?"

_~ I already told you, these hunters are different. And we no longer have our trump card.~_

" Serges is here. Between him and I, we will have no trouble at all taking care of these intruders,"

_~ Serges is a tactician, not a warrior. If your plan revolves around him fighting Megaman X…~_

" My lord, please trust in my abilities,"

_~ You hold the future of the Purifiers in your hands. Just remember, there are worse things than death.~ _Magna Centipede nodded, then killed the transmission. Serges floated out of the shadows behind the maverick on a hovering disc.

" He does not trust in either of us,"

" Our lord gave us permission to…"

" 'Our lord' gave us permission to kill the intruders, and nothing else. He will most likely want to intervene, because he no longer trusts us. He thinks we are weak. He is wrong,"

" Our lord knows best,"

" Hmph. A perfect reprogramming. I must give credit to Sigma's technical division. However, you apparently aren't seeing the whole picture. Do you think Sigma will have any use for the reploids he deems 'weak' once his new world is created? He not only wants to wipe out humans, but those reploids he finds are useless and weak. Sigma obviously doesn't think we are capable of fighting these hunters head-to-head,"

" As long as my lord is served, then my purpose will continue. If he wishes me to end my own life, then so be it,"

" Do you see what I am saying? He will kill us! I've seen it before. Don't you care about your own life?"

" All I do is to serve the lord. I do not fear death, nor deactivation," Then, Magna Centipede narrowed his eyes. " You're trying to turn me away from Lord Sigma! You're a traitor!" Serges did not reply, but merely glared at the dangerous maverick across the room. Suddenly, Magna Centipede's hand shot out, and an invisible force pulled the hover disc from under Serges's feet. The old-looking maverick fell back, landing on his feet and pulling a handgun from beneath his cloak. He fired at the centipede, but the maverick was using the hover disc as a shield to block the shots.

Serges growled. Magnas threw the disc with incredible power, driven by reverse-magnetic forces. A second before the disc hit Serges, he disappeared in a brilliant shower of light. The disc sailed harmlessly across the room and banged into the wall covered in shadow.

***

X was completely taken by surprise when he walked into the lobby to find Serges the X Hunter standing before Calliope, who appeared just as surprised as he was. The maverick turned his deep red eyes upon X, his wicked looking face bathed in the light from those glimmering eyes.

" Megaman X. I was fortunate enough to find you immediately," He spoke.

" Fortunate? What are you talking about? If you're here to kill me, then go ahead and try. Just step away from Calliope," X said through gritted teeth.

" Ah, but I was wrong. _You _are the fortunate one tonight. I am not here to kill you or your girl, in fact I am here to help," If X was surprised before, he was shocked now.

" That's bullshit. You're a mindless maverick, aren't you? You're programmed to kill me,"

" I am not as mindless as you might believe. I have discovered that Sigma no longer holds me in high favor after our failed attempts to kill you. In order to save my own life, I want you to kill Sigma, and everyone else who stands in your way," Serges was about to continue on, but X stopped him.

" _Sigma_? How…"

" Oh, you didn't know? Sigma is still alive, and his thirst for vengeance borders on madness. That is part of the reason why I want you to eliminate him. I can unlock all of the doors and most of the systems inside this building,"

" Sigma…Can't be alive,"

" Apparently you do not know the true nature of the entity that was once Sigma," Serges said cryptically.

" You can activate the elevator?" Calliope spoke up. X realized she hadn't faced Sigma before, and the news of his revival wasn't so surprising to her.

" I shall do so now," The X Hunter said as he fell into a comatose state, connecting to the mainframe. X immediately walked over and stood between Calliope and Serges. He looked back at his love.

" Get to the elevator and wait there for me," He whispered. " I don't want you to be around if Serges goes back on his word,"

" But… the corpses…" Calliope began.

" Don't worry. I'll catch up to you soon," She looked imploringly at him, but he held his gaze sternly. With a gulp, she stood up and ran down the corridor to the elevator. Almost as soon as she was out of sight, Serges awoke. He looked about.

" The girl is gone?" He said. " You are more cautious than I believed. Well, I am a reploid of my word. Eliminate Sigma now before he can track me down. You must promise me this," X nodded.

" I'm a reploid of my word too, Serges. I have my own reasons for wanting to kill Sigma," X emphasized by transforming his arm into its buster state. In an instant, a burst of light whisked the old-looking reploid away. X activated his comm. link as he ran in the direction Calliope went.

" VR?"

" Yes, commander?"

" The elevator is activated. Return to the lobby and await further instructions,"

" How? I haven't reached the controls yet,"

" It's a long story. We have to shut down Magnas now before he does more damage than he already has,"

" Then I'll come with you,"

" No, your weapons have solid shells. You couldn't help us,"

"…Affirmative. I will return to the lobby,"

" Good. I'll contact you when Calliope and I reach the elevator. Megaman X, out," He shut off the comm. link, and he soon ran into Calliope waiting at the corner of the final hall. She was leaning with her back to the wall, not wanting to look at the death-filled corridor lined with hunter corpses. When she heard him approach, she looked to him and brushed a lock of silky brown hair from under her helmet away from her eyes.

" Rock…I don't want to look…" As soon as he caught up to her, he clasped her left hand tightly in his.

" You can close your eyes. I'll guide you," She nodded, tears brimming in her deep blue eyes. She turned around and closed her eyes. He took her by the hand and whispered in her ear. " Be strong. You have nothing to fear. I'm with you now," She let out a deep breath and strengthened her hold on his hand. Taking a deep breath himself, he turned the corner and stared down the blood-soaked hallway. Dead Maverick Hunters lined the halls, nailed roughly by large spikes. Despite this, he took a step, and Calliope mimicked him. Slowly, he picked up speed, and she matched him perfectly. They were halfway through the corridor now…

The stench of death blanketed the air like a fog. Every step X took, his hatred for the mavericks multiplied. He never stopped to look at the hunters nailed to the walls, for he did not want to know if he recognized any of them. At length, they reached the end, where the elevator sat wide open.

X turned around, about to tell Calliope to open her eyes. To his astonishment, they were wide open. He gaped at her. " Cal…Did you…" She exhaled deeply.

" On the way down, let's take the stairs." She said feebly. Despite the situation, X managed a chuckle. He clasped her on the shoulder, then encircled her in a hug.

" Of all the hunters that have ever signed onto the force, _you _are the strongest of them all," He said. She returned his embrace, and when they parted, she spoke.

" Just 'cause I was looking doesn't mean that wasn't the worst moment I've ever experienced," She said nervously.

" Why don't we just get on the elevator and take care of business," He said, taking her by the hand once more and leading her into the open door. She punched in the number 115, and the doors slammed closed and the machine buzzed to life.

" I can't believe Serges was telling the truth," Calliope said.

" Don't jinx it," X said jokingly. The elevator picked up speed, propelling them toward the skyline. Suddenly, the opposite wall turned to glass, and they were looking out at Neo Tokyo City.

" X, look!" Calliope said, pointing out the window. " You can see the Sky Lagoon from here!" The sprawling shopping district, suspended in the air by a repulsor-lift generator with thin, pipe-like walkways was nearly halfway across the city from Central Control, but it was easy to spot most of the Sky Lagoon from the altitude they were reaching aboard the elevator.

X remembered to call VR, and ordered him to check on Mobius and Drake. The elevator began to slow down, and X gave Calliope's hand a squeeze. " Magnas is nothing we can't defeat,"

" Are you sure?"

" Positive. Remember, I'm here this time. My blaster is energy-based, so he can't deflect my shots,"

" But we're both primarily metal. He can crush us with a mere thought!"

" Then we can't give him time to think," X growled determinedly as the elevator ground to a halt. Before the doors opened, three metal beams blasted through the doors, and only by way of inaccuracy did they miss the two hunters. They tore into the windows and flew out over the city, losing speed as Magna Centipede stopped his reverse-magnetic energy flow.

X and Calliope pressed themselves against the wall of the elevator to avoid another direct attack. This was a mistake. From beyond the elevator, Magna Centipede stood with as much of a smirk as his mandibles permitted. He clenched one of his fists and projected the magnetic force which he wielded. The elevator began to fold in on itself as force beat against the metal casing, bending it and twisting it like paper.

The light armored hunter nodded to his companion. He rolled in front of the shattered doorway and fired uncharged shots in Magnas's direction. He ceased crushing the elevator for a moment to send the shots back at him. He was shocked, however, when the energy bullets continued on and battered his chest armor. They were minor stings, but it was more pain than Magnas had ever experienced. He growled.

_Maybe Sigma was right, _Magna Centipede thought. _This is no ordinary Maverick Hunter_. Another hunter stepped into view. The centipede immediately recognized it as Calliope. Drawing her two beam swords, she charged at him.

" Calliope! Stop!" X yelled. He got up from his crouch and ran after her, firing at Magnas to keep him busy. He easily dodged them now that he knew what he was up against. The maverick in turn fired concentrated magnetic energy at X's legs, knocking them out from under him and sending him to the ground. Turning back to Calliope, he shot two other hands out and stopped her arms from moving just as she tried to slash at him.

" I trust you got my message. I did not lie. I will kill you first so you will not have to watch your friends suffer," His fourth hand moved toward her chest, and she suddenly felt her mechanical skeleton being torn apart. Pain like no other spiked through her system, and she screamed in terror and anguish. It felt like someone was driving hot needles into her body from the inside, and at the same time it felt like her mechanical organs were being crushed. " Your skeleton is strong. You must have had an excellent creator," Magnas remarked. Any human would have died from the pain, and at the moment Calliope wished very much that she was human.

A slight relief from the torture followed, but the cause was unknown. She opened her eyes as she fell back and saw Magnas on the ground, twitching a bit. He slowly got up and glared at Megaman X, who had recovered and fired a fully charged shot at the ex-Maverick Hunter. Calliope's insides still felt like they were splitting apart, but the pain was not getting worse. After trying and failing to stand up, she lay on her back, totally defensless. She could barely move any of her joints, as Magnas had probably mangled her metal skeleton beyond the use of her limbs. She couldn't even move her head to watch the battle.

X was getting furious. Every time he fired a powerful shot, his foe would gravitate to the metal wall faster than anyone could normally dodge. Magnas offered very little in resistance at first; he merely fired small bursts of electromagnetic energy from his hands. Then, as X's energy reserves felt the drain they were getting, the centipede made his move. He jumped into the air and flipped upside-down so that his feet were pointed toward the dark ceiling above.

X scanned the dark area, desperately wanting to run to Calliope and help her, but knew that he would be dead if he lost concentration for a moment. Concentration didn't seem to be a factor, for Magna Centipede plunged down from the ceiling at an impossible rate onto X's back, slamming him into the ground and making the whole floor shudder. Before X could think, Magna Centipede pulled his head back with magnetic force and leveled his enormous pincer-laden tail toward his exposed neck.

A sharp thrust, and the pincers were around his neck, squeezing mightily. The skin around his neck was cut through as though it were tissue paper, and artificial blood seeped out of the large wounds. However, Megaman X's metal skeleton was many times stronger than the skeletons of reploids Magnas had ever fought. Even though he was unable to cut cleanly through X's head, the Maverick Hunter was still helplessly pinned down. His pain receptors were shut down, a feature not present on many reploids, and he readied himself for the worst.

The pressure suddenly disappeared, and the weight of the maverick on his back went with it. He got to his feet and looked to where Magnas had fallen a few feet away from him. The maverick's tail lay severed at X's feet, the hilt of a beam saber lying next to it. He then looked to where Calliope had fallen, and found to his astonishment, that she was standing with a grimace of utmost pain on her beautiful face. She was clutching her other beam saber in her left hand; she had thrown the right-handed one at Magnas, which lead to the demise of the maverick's wicked tail.

She staggered forward and dropped to her knees, where she tried to keep herself upright with little success. He rushed to her, glancing back at the maverick moaning on the floor. He let her lay easily on the ground, whispering for her to stay put, and that it would be over soon. As soon as he got up, though, he felt the icy cold hands of magnetic energy on his back. The energy's power was lessened, however due in no small part to the severed tail.

X felt himself being pulled backward, and he readied his blaster and charged it to full. He was nearly upon Magnas when he swerved his legs to the left, firing his booster packs and partially disintegrating the magnetic field. The boost flipped him around so he was face-to-face with the maverick scum, and he fired his shot at the surprised maverick. The blast knocked X back, and when the light and particles cleared, one of Magna Centipede's right arms was vaporized and armor across his chest had been shredded. He dropped to one knee, using his lower arms as support.

X expected a charge or some other kind of attack, but instead the maverick began firing a hailstorm of concentrated magnetic energy out of his remaining hand. The Maverick Hunter tried to minimize damage from the egg-shaped particles battering his armor, but they were flying at him too fast to counter them all. Many slipped past his strengthened gauntlet armor and smashed into his chest. The hits were accumulating, and for once X's armor was showing signs of real damage. He didn't know how much longer he could survive the storm...

Magnas was running out of energy quickly. He knew that if he continued the hail of energy, he would completely run out of power before the Maverick Hunter would be dead. So, another idea popped into his brain. He ceased his attack and brought all his arms together in front of his slim body. X looked through his defensive posture at the maverick. Magna Centipede was routing all his energy into a special power tank. One he had hoped he would never have to use...

The soft armor on the maverick's body, such as his gloves, began to glow a pale blue. X could see that it could only mean Magnas had thought of a new strategy. As the glow increased, X pulled out his blaster and began to charge. The two opponents' weapons seemed to charge at the same rate, and soon the centipede's entire body was bathed in a pale blue. Two seconds before X fired his shot, the energy in Magnas's body ripped out of him and spread throughout the room, knocking the hunter back and sending the shot wild. As X spun as if weightless, he saw his energy blast spasm and react oddly with the magnetic field the centipede had released into the room. It seemingly became unstable, then hardened into an amorphous ball, floating in the changed atmosphere of the room.

Strangely, several metal instruments in the room acted as if they had been struck, and when the pale blue light engulfed them as well, they began swirling about the room at dangerous speeds, caught in a sort of 'magnetic vortex'. Larger machines, like the three reploids and the massive central computer set back into a large crevasse in the wall, were less violently effected by the magnetic field. The constant polar and non-polar energy kept them in a kind of limbo; they could not move properly and felt as though they were weightless.

Magna Centipede was completely drained of his magnetic powers. All he had left were his fists and his superior maneuverability. He had hoped the electromagnetic field would disorient the maverick hunter and disable his arm cannon. His cannon was apparently malfunctioning, but the dense ball of energy floating near the ceiling caused him brief concern. He had never seen energy react like that, although he had never combined Megaman X's buster energy with his own magnetic power. It seemed stable enough, so Magnas ignited the small rockets built into his back and legs, designed for this specific occasion, and propelled himself at the Maverick Hunter.

The magnetic field was playing tricks with X's sensory perception; everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. He saw that Magnas was moving toward him, but he still appeared to be several feet away when he felt metal fists pounding his chest armor. His armor was already weak from the previous attack, and X had no way to counter. There was only a matter of time before his armor would be smashed open, and he would be far worse off if that happened. His eyes were conflicting with his electronic brain. Whenever he tried to make a move, his eyes would show something different.

The traitor delivered a crushing punch to X's jaw. He flew back through the magnetic swamp, and in his delusion he came to his senses. He switched off his eyes, and diverted power to his hearing. Suddenly, everything became, quite literally, loud and clear. He heard the boosters that propelled Magnas toward him. He could 'feel' where the maverick was going. He still didn't know how to move, but he could at least counter the mavericks attacks.

Magna Centipede noticed that X's eyes had gone blank and colorless. He at first thought that he had dealt more damage than he thought, but when he sent another punch at the hunter, X grabbed his arm with his left hand and his right fist shot out, slamming into his chest and knocking him back. _How? _Magnas thought. _He... He must be using his audio sensory to detect my movements..._

X realized that, by increasing power to his hearing, he could almost feel the ripples in the magnetic field caused by movement. He felt, rather than heard, that Magnas was still falling back, floating toward the opposite wall. He also felt the ball of pure, destructive energy that he had unleashed as the field had engulfed the room.

Magna Centipede let himself float backwards so that he could push himself off the wall and deliver the final blow to his enemy. If he had the hearing capabilities of Megaman X, he would not have done so. He would have realized that he was floating straight toward the quietly rumbling ball of energy, which began to increase in instability. His only warning was when he saw X grab Calliope, and change direction so that his back was to him.

It was all over in a matter of seconds. A screaming, incandescent outpouring of pure energy followed immediately after Magnas touched the ball. Beams streaked out across the room, burning magnificent holes in the walls. One struck X on the shoulder, blasting his armor to shreds and sending shards into the air. The magnetic field dissipated in the blink of an eye and the hunters fell to the ground, but the explosion that bathed the room in radiant white, blue and yellow energy grew in intensity and volume. The surface of the explosion writhed with deadly energy and bits of metal flew about in all directions. The walls began melting, and the maverick hunter could feel himself beginning to overheat. The metal casing on the floor began to peel back from the force of the outpouring energy, exposing the concrete foundation beneath. Eventually, the lightning-like beams grew smaller and more instantaneous, and the mass of energy gently subsided.

X was breathing heavily, amazed that he was still alive. He switched his visual sensors back on and looked down at Calliope, and realized to his horror that she had shut down. She wasn't dead, but her system was in stasis due to the intense physical strain her body had been put through.

"...ander....comma.... X...COMMANDER!!!" The comm. link in X's helmet screeched. It was Mobius's voice, but X ignored it. He tried to stand, lifting Calliope in his arms. _She's not dead...She's not dead... _He kept reminding himself. However, if she stayed in shut down mode for too long, there would be a catastrophic brain crash, and she would surely die. He now turned on his comm. link. 

" Hunter Base, this is Megaman X. I need evac immediately at the Central Control," He tried to keep the panic out of his words, which he spoke quickly. Every second counted.

" What's your status, Commander?"

" I need evac _now_,"

" I need your position,"

" Get me some evac NOW! Send them to the roof!" He turned off his link, then looked to the doorway on the left hand wall. It was completely demolished, so X moved as quickly as his damaged limbs could permit with Calliope in his arms. However, he cast a look back into the room to make sure Magnas was gone. To his surprise, the entire wall was completely gone, and if X wasn't so desperate, he would have marveled at the view of the city's skyline through the side of the building. There was absolutely no sign of the traitorous Maverick Hunter; he had been completely vaporized. X turned back to the task at hand. 

Through the door, there was a flight of stairs. He limped up them for three stories and came to another door. Beyond it, he heard sounds of battle. Gunshots, metallic screeches, and the cry of a monstrous beast. X weakly kicked the door open to find Drake, VR and Mobius surrounded by small, ravenous mechaniloids. They were fairly battered, and the creatures were clawing at their armor faster than they could blast them off.

They all looked up in surprise when X, on the verge of shutting down himself, stood in the doorway holding Calliope in his arms. Figuring questions would have to come later, they continued fighting off the mechaniloids. X looked back at them with a pained expression, for he did not have the energy to keep up the fight. Every time the amount of mechaniloids dwindled, more rushed up from the sides of the rounded building. During their fight, as Drake switched his assault rifle to shotgun mode, he looked at X and nodded, showing that he understood if he couldn't fight.

Mobius fired his twin shotguns at an alarming rate, thus having to reload often. His advantage over the other two combatants was that he could fly to safety to reload, so whenever they needing to reload themselves, he kept the monsters off of them. Even so, the fight was going badly. Everyone was low on energy, and just when things seemed impossible, a hail of hundreds of bullets filled the air and tore the little mechaniloid's ranks asunder. The smooth roar of an _Alleviator _class air shuttle filled the sky, and X looked up to see the metal vehicle hovering above their location.

X's comm. crackled to life. " Commander, evac zone is hot!" He heard the pilot say as the copilot sprayed bullets with twin chain guns mounted on the nose of the bulky craft.

" I know! Touch down anyway! The mavericks are clearing out!" Was X's reply. The pilot shook his head at X, but the mavericks were indeed thinning. Finally, the pilot brought the bulky shuttle near the ground. X lifted himself and Calliope onto the open personnel bay while the other hunters mopped up the remnants of the mavericks. Soon, they all followed suit and the engines flared to life. As soon as the bay door closed, X laid Calliope down on a bench and walked to the cabin.

" I need a life support machine," He said to the copilot.

" What for?" He asked in return.

" One of my teammates shut down. I need to get her energy before her system crashes," He said hurriedly. The copilot got up and followed X to the personnel bay. He showed the copilot Calliope, and he flipped the visor on his flight helmet up.

" This isn't good..." The reploid said. X felt his insides collapse. " We don't have any life support equipment aboard, but I might be able to..." He trailed off as he walked back into the cockpit. He came back with two energy capsules. He turned her over and opened the slot on the back of her armor that connected to her energy reserves. He tried to insert the capsule into her, but it was blocked.

" My god...What happened to her? Her skeleton looks like it's been through a compactor. I can't fit the capsule in. Her port is too mangled," He said worriedly. A cold, empty feeling began to wash over X. It wasn't the end...it couldn't be the end...

The other Maverick Hunters stared in silent horror, afraid to speak. The copilot turned to the pilot. " Get us at top speed, and take us into the emergency med port!" The pilot nodded, and pushed the throttle to full. X quietly knelt down beside Calliope and put his hands on her back, burying his head against her and letting tears flow freely from his eyes.

****

End

AN: I can't apologize enough to everyone, but I'm hoping a jumbo-sized chapter with a large side order of awesome boss fight will smooth things over. I've gotten back in gear, and let's hope I stay that way until I'm done with this thing.


	24. Chapter 21: Endgame

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Megaman X2: Eternal War

Chapter 21:Endgame

By Genoscythe

Two more disclaimers! At this point I'm not even really _writing _a disclaimer so much as announcing how many chapters I have left to go! Yay! Free love! Go America! Down with Communism!( At this point the Russian army is knocking at my door with a slew of T-90 tanks demanding my immediate surrender and conversion to communism... Oh well, Heil Hitler! Oh, sorry, wrong country.)

Through the entire trip back to HQ, no one had said a word. They decided it best to leave their commander to his sorrow as he clutched the lifeless hand of his love. At several points during the trip, Drake opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and closed it again. VR was looking distractedly at a list of data scrolling down his transparent visor, and Mobius's gaze darted about the small personnel bay of the evac shuttle. The pilot of the shuttle made an attempt at conversation, however.

" Things aren't going well for us in the city. We've been working overtime trying to get injured hunters out of the major battle zones. Mavericks are storming the major population areas and have already slaughtered hundreds of humans. There are siege tanks constantly rolling through the street, and nobody can tell if they're friend of foe until it's too late," He said grimly. " I wouldn't be surprised if they sent you back out immediately, even with your friend's condition," The hunters seemed to have paid him little heed.

As a small hangar door opened on the side of the large HQ looming ahead of them, X's spirits began to rise slightly. The Lifesaver units would take her immediately out of the shuttle and plug her into an energy tank, and she would be fine. Her brain would have enough energy to keep itself from crashing while the repairs on her body were being done. In a day, she would be near to full strength, and she and X would end the war together and move away from the city into the forest west of the HQ where the violence of the mavericks and humans and reploids could not touch them.

X told himself all of these things as the shuttle was locked into the small hangar and the side door slid up, allowing the Lifesaver units to wheel a cart into the shuttle. They knew immediately who needed attention, and the copilot had already told them of her condition. They sped her away, leaving X, the rest of his small team, and the two pilots sitting inside the stationary hover shuttle.

A small, mono-lens mechaniloid wheeled itself up to them via the ramp connecting the shuttle and the HQ. Mechaniloids were rare at the Maverick Hunter Headquarters, since they were far more susceptible to becoming a maverick than average reploids. This puzzled many scientists, since mechaniloids were mindless machines, and could not 'choose' a destiny as reploids could. This lead to the popular conclusion that mavericks were really reploids or mechaniloids infected by an airborne computer virus.

Some scientists rejected the theory, but it certainly seemed possible. The small mechaniloid's lens clicked and focused in and out. _Maverick Hunters, and crew of the _Mjolnir, _you are ordered to exit the craft at this time. _The tinny voice came from a voice box on a panel near the mechaniloid's right wheel. _To the crew, your ship will be docked appropriately. To the Hunters, you are ordered to report to a general council meeting in Dr. Cain's office. The crew of the _Mjolnir _may wait in one of the lounges for further instructions, but is not limited to such activity._

X and the hunters rose simultaneously with the two pilots. The little droid wheeled off elsewhere. The light hunter was surprised that Drake did not yell at it; he hated mechaniloids. But then again, no one was in a very decent mood. Sure, they were all still alive, but how long would that last? Even the pilots of the _Mjolnir _seemed dejected. The pilot slowly wandered off toward one of the lounges.

Before the copilot left, X turned to him. " What's your name?" He asked him. The copilot seemed surprised at the question, but he responded.

" My name is Raydon,"

" Raydon? Thank you for your efforts in aiding our friend," X said. Raydon flipped his black helmet visor up and extended his hand. X took it and they engaged in a brief handshake.

" It's an honor to finally meet the famous Megaman X in person. I'm just glad I could help out somehow," He solemnly said, for he knew just as well as X did that whatever help he had given may not be enough. Even as the copilot descended the ramp and walked off through the bustling medical ward, none of the hunters made a move to leave. They were all stricken with their loss, X most of all.

Finally, Mobius made a move to leave. They all looked to him, and followed his example. Almost in a daze, the hunters walked through the pure white halls of the intensive care center, following their orders to attend a general council meeting. X could not help but notice how many injured hunters there were. The pilot of the _Mjolnir _had told them that things were not going well in the city, but he did not expect so many wounded. X hoped he would see Calliope, but they never passed by her. She must have been taken into a special care room.

They exited the white walled corridors into the normal, soft blue hue of the rest of HQ. A general council meeting was held in Dr. Cain's office, where all or most of the division leaders gathered to discuss important decisions and the like. The four hunters were surprised that they werebeing called to the meeting, but X guessed it was because of the mission to the Central Control.

Through the normal medical center, there were far fewer hunters on the mechanical regeneration pads. X knew that meant that more hunters were seriously injured than minor injuries. He sighed. Now, he was being confronted with memories of the first Maverick War. Open fighting throughout the city streets, the intensive care ward filled with mangled reploids. It was not a reassuring thought.

As they exited into the main lobby of Maverick Hunter Headquarters, they noticed a severe lack of reploids in the normally bustling room lined with stairways. Most, if not all of the Maverick Hunters were in the city battling the mavericks. After ascending the stairs, they went immediately to Dr. Cain's office. As soon as the four hunters opened the door, they could tell something was wrong. The only ones in the room were Dr. Cain himself, Dragoon of the 14th division, Fathom of the 6th, Corsair of the 7th, Zen of the 8th Armored Division, and Dire Wolf of the 9th Ranger Division . Havoc, leader of the 4th Overland Division had not been seen in well over a week, and there were virtually no clues as to his disappearance or present location.

X wondered where Magus, leader of Special Unit 0 was, but Dr. Cain answered the question for him when they all were ready to begin.

" I'm sure many of you are wondering where the commander of Unit 0 is, and why he isn't at this meeting. Some of you may already know, but for those of you who don't, Magus was killed in action earlier this morning. Supposedly he was killed by one of the maverick leaders, but we do not have confirmation yet. What this means is that now 0 is without a commander, which greatly reduces their combat effectiveness,"

" Are you asking one of us to lead Special Unit 0?" Fathom asked, making sure his tone wasn't rude or accusatory.

" No. We will soon have someone to fill that role, and I think his appearance will greatly boost our troops' morale," The old man said with a smile.

" You don't mean...Zero? It couldn't be..." Dire Wolf spoke, in his deep gray armor, his equally dark, wild hair which was his namesake swaying as he shook his head in disbelief.

" Yes. We don't know how, but Zero's final component appeared earlier this morning, and I have already begun to assemble him back together,"

" Serges..." X muttered under his breath. If he wasn't sure of the maverick's intentions before, he was now. The thought of his friend coming back thrilled him, however, and dispelled all thoughts of the maverick.

" Of course, this is not the focus of the meeting. I believe you had something to say to these brave hunters, Dragoon?"

" Yes, I did," The vicious looking dragon stepped forward, clenching his neo-titanium claws. Then, he pointed accusingly at the four Maverick Hunters by the door. " You failed your mission to the Central Control! You were ordered to secure the main computer, but you pulled out too quickly-"

" Our teammate was injured! She wouldn't have lived if we had followed your ridiculous orders!" Dragoon was caught by surprise when X interjected him, but it did not stop his rampage.

" Your entire purpose of _going _there was to eliminate the threat that Magnas presented and keep the location secure until a larger team of hunters could arrive and secure it!"

" Magnas is dead and gone, and the grand cannons have been disabled. How else do you think the evac shuttle was able to rescue us!? All you have to do is send another team right now, and the Central Control will be secure,"

" That doesn't dismiss your behavior! You're a commander of an entire division now, X, and if these are the kind of decisions you will be making in the future, then I doubt the 17th will last much longer,"

" On the contrary, Dragoon," Dr. Cain put in, holding up a withered hand to silence any rebuttal. " X obviously has more care for his own hunters than for the missions at hand, so I expect the survival rates to _increase_, if anything," The commander of the 14th Melee Division struggled for a reply, but none came. Instead, he backed up.

" Please forgive me, Commander X," Dragoon said dejectedly.

" Apology accepted, Commander Dragoon," X's voice was stone cold.

" I'm sorry, gentlemen, but we have yet more pressing matters. Our hunters have suffered horrifying losses inside the city, and the mavericks have not even unleashed their ace of spades yet,"

" You mean the dinosaur tank?" Corsair stated more as a fact than a question. " That piece of moving scrap is merely another target for my bombers," he said confidently, ruffling the smooth feathers about his neck.

" That 'moving scrap' may be more dangerous than you will admit, Commander Corsair," Dire Wolf said.

" Ha! Anything that is bound to the earth is not a match for my squadron," His hooked beak twisted almost into a half-smile, but clearly even _reploid_ peregrine falcons were not meant to smile.

" That attitude is more dangerous to your division than any ace the mavericks could create," Dire Wolf sternly scolded. Corsair shook his head, ready to offer a sting to Wolf's own pride. Cain again silenced them.

" This is not the way Neo Tokyo's best defense against the maverick threat should act. This is why our hunters are being killed. We have forgotten our unity that we shared in the First Maverick War. Statistically, the number of mavericks we are fighting today is over 30% less than what we fought in the first war, and yet we are receiving more casualty reports than ever!"

" To be fair, Dr. Cain, there were far fewer hunters during the first war, so casualties would logically be lower,"

" Not necessarily. If our numbers were so low, and theirs were so much higher, then how did we even survive at all? It was a sense of unity, a sense that Maverick Hunters could rely on each other. The will to survive against such an overwhelming force was also motivation, but that alone would not be enough," Slowly, the assembly began to nod in agreement. " We cannot win through weapons and numbers alone, my comrades,"

" Do you want us to dispatch back to the city?" Dire Wolf asked. Dr. Cain nodded.

" Every one of you will move into the city and help defend your division's position. X, tactical data has been added to your armor mainframe to show you the location of the 17th barricade. Are there any questions?" Undoubtedly, there were many questions that had not been voiced, but everyone was too anxious to speak. Zen hadn't spoken a word the entire meeting, and X guessed it was an effect of the hunter's battle psyche.

" Dismissed. And the best of luck to you all," Dr. Cain said in closing. All too slowly, the hunters filed out of the room. There was a grim atmosphere in the room that was almost palpable, and it sunk into X's synthetic skin and chilled his already tormented heart. He turned to leave, as the other three hunters had already left. Breathing a sigh, he looked back at Dr. Cain.

" Grandpa, you know this is getting desperate,"

" I know, X. The situation is _getting _desperate, but we aren't quite there yet. Despite all the injuries and fatalities, we still outnumber the maverick force," Cain said quietly.

" But they haven't deployed the dinosaur tank yet,"

" Yes, but their major edge was that we didn't know about it. Now that we know, we are prepared for its arrival, when and wherever that may be,"

Max Sutherland cursed his luck as he ran through the streets of Neo Tokyo City. He was knocked unconscious by a maverick when the general warning had gone out in the city, and when he had come to, the streets were a war zone! He ran, his head ducked low, behind wrecked cars as reploids exchanged fire with other reploids holed up in the office buildings above.

As he ran, Max cursed the entire reploid race. They were created to _serve _mankind, not _destroy_ it! He didn't see why the government wouldn't just pull the plug on every damned reploid in the city. These attacks weren't worth their existence, and Max didn't believe all that crap about 'reploids have feelings too!'. They were machines, tools of creation and destruction.

Mr. Sutherland stopped when he heard a screeching noise. He looked over the burning sedan he was hiding behind to see a Ride Armor, a mechanical suit designed for reploids to increase their power, skidding around a street corner and boosting down the road. As it went, the Maverick Hunter aboard the machine yelled something to his companions on the street, and they all got frightened looks on their faces.

Max knew that was a bad thing, but he didn't know how bad until the ground beneath him suddenly ripped apart and something massive and green surged through the broken street and engulfed the hunters and the unlucky human.

_It's here!!! _The commlink screamed at Megaman X as he sat in the hover shuttle, looking down at the ravaged city. _The dinosaur tank!!! It...it came out of the ground! Sector 27! All hunters to sector 27! _X turned to the pilot.

" We've got a new destination," He said.

" I heard. Sector twenty seven," The pilot replied. Even without knowing the coordinates, they could see where the dinosaur tank had risen. Looking out the open door, X and the other three hunters saw the long, massive green tank rolling through the streets; barely fitting between the rows of buildings. It was bristling with cannons, and they were all firing liberally at Corsair's 7th Aerial Division.

Corsair's bombers, in return, let loose hull-penetrating bombs on the monster that seemed to have a pitifully small effect. They did, however, successfully knock out the anti-air guns. There were far more guns than there were bombers, and the bombers' numbers dwindled by the second. Smoke and shrapnel from the guns filled the air, and the horizon was alight with fire, creating a very apocalyptic feel in the city.

The hover shuttle grew ever closer to the tank, and he nodded to VR, Drake and Mobius. As planned, the shuttled slowed down and swooped just above the rooftop of a building near the tank's firing path. The three hunters stood, and with a cocky smirk at X, Drake ran and jumped out the open door, followed by the other two. X looked to see if they had landed safely, but the shuttle sped up again.

X applauded the pilot's bravery at flying toward the monstrous dinosaur tank, even as he readied himself to jump. The shuttle zoomed just above the anti-air guns bristling the sides of the tank, getting jolted by a stray shot, but not severely damaged. The airship swayed, but stayed aloft. The white hunter readied himself for the drop. They were nearing a flat section of the tank at the base of the tail where X would be dropped off.

The ship rocked violently, and began to swerve. " We've been hit!" The pilot called back to X. " I'll get her as close as I can. Get ready to jump." X nodded. The ship picked up speed involuntarily; probably an engine malfunction. They zoomed over the drop off point, and X tried to time his jump as best he could.

As soon as X hit the metal, he turned to see what had happened to the airship. However, the air was so filled with smoke, fire and debris that he could barely see the tip of the dinosaur tank's tail. Turning around, he was confronted by a metal door at the base of the tail. It appeared unlocked, so X pressed a button next to it. The door slid open with a hiss, and as soon as it did a plasma ball flew out from the corridor and almost hit X in the head. He dove and pressed his back against the wall next to the door.

Leaning out, he fired blindly down the corridor until he heard a cry of pain. He stepped out, his blaster held out in front of him. A reploid in Maverick Hunter armor lay on the floor, propping up his torso with his hand and placing the other against his ruined chest. All at once X felt a gut wrenching feeling inside him, realizing that he had shot one of his own comrades. However, his fears were put to rest when the hunter picked up his rifle again and attempted to shoot X, but all of his energy was bleeding out his torso and he only ended up dropping the gun again.

" Why...do you protect the humans?" The infected hunter choked.

" Because they are our ancestors. They created us, and we owe it to them to protect their lives,"

" But...they can be so...cruel..." X began to feel sympathy for the dying maverick.

" Not all humans are cruel. There are at least as many wicked reploids as there are humans," As urgent as the situation was, X was compelled to answer the dying reploid's questions.

" So then...I died...for nothing?" X said nothing. His words rang true; he _did _die for nothing. He died because of an ideal that was forced upon him, an action that a virus compelled him to do. He had no control over his fate, and now he would just be another nameless victim of the maverick virus.

The reploid's eyes became milky white, and he faded into death. Without another moment's pause, X turned the corner and continued on through the corridor, dispatching mavericks as he went. All the while the image of the dead maverick burned in his mind, as if he were still laying in front of him. His milky white, dead eyes threatened to engulf him and drive him mad. He tried not to think about all the other mavericks like that one, who were humane only minutes before their retirement, but the image of the dead maverick prompted him to.

It was during the turmoil of the smoky corridors and falling bodies that X realized what a horrible crime he was committing. The only thing killing would solve would be more work for the coroners and junkyard owners. War could not bring peace; the two ideas were so different in nature that the very idea was ridiculous. As X mechanically dispatched mavericks and continued through the tank, he realized all these things. In the middle of a firefight, he suddenly stopped firing. He didn't know if he had done it on his own or if his body had done it for him.

He rolled behind a box to avoid getting shot. His life's work was completely false; he fought to bring peace, yet fighting doesn't bring peace. Fighting can only bring more fighting. Killing the mavericks from the first uprising only gave way to this...hell. Suddenly X knew what to do, though it sounded completely insane. He stood up from behind the box and retracted his arm cannon. Holding his arms up like a Da Vinci sketch, he spoke to the maverick shooting at him.

" What are you fighting for?" He called out to it. The maverick ignored him and fired a metal rifle slug into his chest. X staggered back, but stood again. " Answer me!" He said. Once again, the maverick fired, but he dodged it this time. X opened his mouth to speak again, but the words caught in his throat. A flash of green light separated the maverick's torso from its legs, and the two halves fell to the floor in a gout of blood. Before his eyes, a ghost appeared.

" Jesus Christ X! What happened to you?" Genoscythe, red eyes glowing fervently, stood behind the remains of the maverick. His scythe deactivated and he slid it into the slot on his back. " The Megaman X I knew wouldn't hesitate to return fire when fired upon," He said, shaking his head.

" It's...good to see you too, Commander," X said in mild bewilderment. " How are you-"

" Alive? Heh, you should know by now I'm made of tougher stuff than most people think," He turned to look down the corridor. " Follow me,"

" But-"

" We might have time for explanations later. Right now, we have more important tasks to deal with," Shaking his head, X followed Genoscythe down the corridor.

" Wait, it's not in position yet," Drake whispered onto his commlink. The Dinosaur Tank was moving slowly through the streets, tearing through the neocrete with rough treads. The 7th bomber unit was more or less destroyed, and only a few hunters hovered listlessly above the tank, firing bombs at the impossibly large tank. The slow vehicle was moving, inching ever closer to the target area...

" NOW!!!" Drake screamed. Suddenly, missiles exploded out of windows all around the tank's head. Hundreds of small explosives hurtled into the cockpit of the deadly machine, blasting apart orange-tinted glass and green armor plating. The tank lurched and slowed to a halt. Drake heard cheers erupt from floors above and below him as he leaned against the window sill and breathed a sigh of relief. That wasn't nearly as hard as he thought it would be.

However, when he heard cheers turn to screams, he turned around to look out the window again. The tank was still moving, and now it was turning its cannons on Drake's building. He bolted to his feet and began running for the open elevator across the hall. As he rushed inside, he slammed his fist down on the number 1 button. The moment the bloodstained doors closed, cannon fire tore the building to shreds.

" I don't believe it..." VR muttered to Mobius. The building next to them, Drake's building, crashed to the ground in a giant cloud of dust and debris.

" You don't think...not him too..." Mobius said to himself. The sounds of battle awoke them from their stupor.

" How is that thing still moving!? We blew apart its control center,"

" It could have a secondary control center,"

" Well, where the hell is that?"

" Probably in the core of the tank, where it's well protected,"

" That's where X is headed, isn't it?"

" Yes, but I think he may need some extra support,"

" Well, then what are we waiting for?" Mobius hooked a clawed hand through VR's backpack and began to beat his wings furiously. They began to rise slowly of the ground. Then, Mobius fired his leg thrusters and they rocketed into the air. In a moment, his thrusters stopped and they began to plummet toward the ground. At what seemed like the last possible second, Mobius pulled up and they flew toward the belly of the tank, where a large platform filled with mavericks hung from thick metallic cables.

Mobius let go of his passenger, and VR slammed his armored shoulder into one of the mavericks, knocking him and another reploid behind him off of the platform. Immediately, the mavericks around him trained their guns on him. Before they could fire, however, Mobius swooped in and began tearing apart their ranks with his claws. In a moment, VR whipped out a magnum in one hand and a portable beam rifle in the other. He was taking plenty of hits from the mavericks that Mobius couldn't distract, but his thick armor held up well. He crouched defensively, firing his two weapons in tandem. Light energy tore through armor, bullets chewed through flesh, and claws ripped apart limbs.

In minutes, the mavericks were cleared from that immediate area of the platform. Mobius ran along the suspended platform with his wings folded like a cape around him until he found a ladder leading up into the tank. Hoisting himself up, he found himself in a ride armor hangar. Mechanical hulks lined the bays on either side of him. Many of them had already been taken, but as he stood there, one hummed to life with a maverick at its controls. It skidded out of the holding bay and turned to Mobius.

It dashed forward, pulling back a fist made of spikes to slam into the reploid bat. As the fist flew forward, Mobius ducked under the machine and rammed his sharp claws into the belly of the machine. The maverick operator cried out, and he assumed that his claws had hit home. To his surprise, the armor was still moving, and it swung its other fist around. Mobius took the hit on his shoulder, slamming him into a deactivated ride armor in the wall.

The bat regained his senses enough to see the ride armor turn away from him, then saw a beam of light scorch the armor's left leg. Another beam blasted an arm out of its socket. Trying to escape, the maverick sent the ride armor into a backward slide. This worked until the armor slammed into a large generator imbedded partway in the wall. Four energy beams ripped at the machine until it exploded into a great ball of flame, igniting the generator and creating an even larger explosion.

Mobius pressed his back to the wall of the ride armor bay as red and blue flames blew past him. Even from outside the tank, the fighting Maverick Hunters could see a blossoming flower of burning gas and energy erupt from the side of the behemoth. Layers of metal plating flew in all directions, and suddenly the anti-air cannons and ordinance bristling the tank stopped firing. The hunters stopped in awe only for a moment before they continued pouring fire on the tank; the mavericks on the back of the machine and the ones on the platform were still plenty active.

When the explosion ceased, Mobius left his safe haven and looked for VR. He saw nothing but ruined ride armor and a gaping hole in the side of the hangar. Then, he looked to the ladder he had climbed to reach the hangar. VR hoisted himself up from the lip of the opening in the floor with a grim smile on his face. " _That _must have hurt it," he said.

" One may only hope," Mobius said dryly. " Let's go, we need to find X,"

X steadied himself as the tank began to rock. " Well, seems like they're dealing some damage after all," Genoscythe said, standing calmly amid the rocking tank. He could somehow keep his balance while the tank rocked violently; X chocked that up to another of the many mysteries of his commander.

" The Maverick Hunter battle network says they took out the control center. If that's true, then why is this thing still active?"

" This tank has a secondary power center. I know where it is, so if you'll hurry, we can avoid more needless deaths and destroy this thing quickly," Genoscythe said. X nodded. Within moments, the elevator they were waiting for had arrived, and they stepped inside. The navy blue commander pressed a button and the elevator jolted to life. As the platform descended, X's commlink began to play static. Then, the static faded out and he could hear frantic voices in the background

_What's she doing?_

Wait, don't touch her! Just keep monitoring her vitals and make sure she remains stable!

She's turned on her commlink

Who's she contacting?

It's Commander X The voices in the back slowly faded out for X as he realized what was going on. A new voice, louder than the others, began speaking into the commlink.

_Rock... _Once again, X felt his heart stop.

End


	25. Chapter 22: Last Line of Defense

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Megaman X2: Eternal War

Chapter 22: Last Line of Defense

By Genoscythe

One more! One more disclaimer! Okay, I'll shut up now 0o

" Calliope!!!" X nearly screamed into the commlink. He heard a weak chuckle from the other side of the link.

_I'm going to make it... I want to see the end...of this conflict... with you_

" Hold on for me, Calliope. I can't take the thought of losing you,"

_I know...I'll be waiting when...you get back... _She shut off the communication. X gripped the side of his helmet tightly, feeling a warm flow of ecstasy through his system. In the silence of the descending elevator, X knew that what he had thought before was foolish. This conflict had already been started, and the only way to end it would be to fight. He wiped the thought of the dead Maverick Hunter from his mind, telling himself that after the war ended, he would never fight again. That would be his consolation to all the people he had killed. Fighting was the only option for him now, and not even his surrender upstairs had told him that. It was the thought of what would happen to Calliope if he did nothing, if he absolved himself to peace now, that told him that he had to fight.

" Look X, I don't know what the hell happened to you while I was gone, but these mavericks are vicious. Talking to them won't do anything but get yourself killed. If you wanna go pacifist, do it after we're done killing, okay? I need a partner, not a preacher," Genoscythe said to him.

" I know, Commander. I realize that peace is out of our reach now,"

" The dinosaur tank is their final defense. Once we've destroyed it, Sigma will be out of tricks. I know the location of their base, and you can find him there,"

" First we have to worry about the task at hand," X lowered his head. " Destroying this thing,"

" I've had plenty of time to study this machine's layout. This elevator will take us to the secondary control room. Are you ready for a tough fight?"

" Yes,"

" You're done being all wishy-washy on me?"

" Yes, Commander,"

" Good. There are two powerful mavericks down there in the secondary control room. One of them is Velocity Raptor, and the other is Wheel Gator. You've seen what Raptor can do, so leave him to me. You should be strong enough to take down Wheel Gator,"

" Affirmative. How do we shut this thing down?"

" The tank's core is slaved to Gator's control unit. If you kill Gator, you kill the tank," The elevator slammed to a halt. A green light blinked on the control panel.

" Here we are," X said wistfully.

" Shoot to kill," Genoscythe turned to him. X nodded and they stepped toward the door in front of them. In the blink of an eye, something flashed in front of X and jumped at Genoscythe. X blinked again, and a vicious looking reptile was grappling with his commander. He looked back to the control console in the middle of the small room to see a bright green reploid with what looked like spiked wheels on his shoulders. The maverick turned around, and he saw the elongated mouth, sharp teeth and beady eyes of an alligator.

_Shoot to kill... _Genoscythe's last words rang in X's mind. He raised his buster, and Wheel Gator gripped one of his shoulder wheels. X waited, still reluctant to fire on another living being. Gator threw the wheel, and X fired a charged blast into the spinning disc. The force knocked the disc back at the maverick, and it imbedded sharp spikes into its chest.

Gator growled, grabbing the wheel and pulling it out. X readied another charge shot. This time, he fired first, but Gator held up the wheel to block the shot. Though the wheel absorbed the energy, it was sent backward due to the force, smashing its owner in the face. _This maverick is an amateur! _X thought, _He barely has any combat skills..._ The maverick jumped at him, and he rolled to the side.

Wheel Gator sank his teeth into the metal floor, and X leveled his buster at the maverick's head. Before he could fire though, he was knocked off his feet and sprawled on the floor near the control console. He heard an unnatural roar, and assumed it was emanated from Velocity Raptor. He saw, for a brief moment, the beast standing where he was only moments before. Then, an energy blade swung out from the shadows and imbedded in Raptor's chest. It screeched and disappeared, leaving Genoscythe in its place. Then he too disappeared, in chase of the maverick.

X noticed that Wheel Gator had disappeared. He looked to the left, but as he did so a massive jaw closed around his right arm and bit with incredible force. X felt his armor being pierced, and a moment later nauseating waves of pain surged from his arm. He tried to activate his X buster to shake it loose, but the transformation wouldn't start with teeth imbedded in his buster arm. Thinking quickly, he remembered that a function of his new armor was that he could fire reserve energy from the palm of his left hand.

He saved some energy for a dire situation like this, and he threw out his arm and opened his palm toward Wheel Gator's head, which was busy chewing on his right arm. With a yell, he activated the program and a massive wave of destructive energy exploded from his hand. The burst of light was right in front of his face, and he was temporarily blinded. He blinked to clear away the brightness, and he felt more pain burst from his arm. He looked down and saw waves of blood running down his crushed arm, but not all of it was his. A few feet away from him, a blackened husk lay smoldering on the ground, its edges curled inward like a budding flower. He could tell it was the remains of Wheel Gator.

The tank lurched. From somewhere outside the room, he heard a reptilian scream as the giant machine stopped, then began to tilt sideways. A flash of movement, and Velocity Raptor was in the doorway of the secondary control room, looking horrified at the smoldering husk that was Wheel Gator. He stood only for a second, and then a green energy blade ripped him in half. Genoscythe ran into the room, pushing aside Raptor's still form.

He saw X, almost covered in blood, and ran to him, grabbing his outstretched arm and pulling him to his feet. As he did, the tank rocked again, and then began falling sideways. Genoscythe and X fell against the wall as the machine thudded to the ground. Wheel Gator's remains almost landed on the Commander's head. X groaned, clutching his arm. He was startled when his commlink started up.

_Commander X! You won't believe it, but we got a new IT satellite working!_ The voice of a young operator came through the static. _I'm reading dangerous vital signs, sir. Would you like to be recalled?_

"...Yes," X said. He looked to Genoscythe.

" Get back to the base. I can take care of myself," The commander said.

" You're coming back to...the 17th, aren't you?" X asked. Before he heard a reply, he felt himself being converted to energy, and he appeared a moment later in the middle of Maverick Hunter HQ. Sighing, he shut himself down as Lifesaver units approached him.

* * *

" Wait, I thought I just saw...him..." VR said to Mobius. They were trying to find their way through the wreckage of the dinosaur tank when VR thought he had seen a dark blue figure dashing through the debris. It looked exactly like his former commander Genoscythe , but Genoscythe was killed by that raptor maverick...

" Who?" Mobius asked, turning to face VR.

" Uh...nothing. It was just my imagination," Mobius shrugged.

" If you say so," After clawing through more debris and broken ride armors, they found the hatch they had used to break into the tank. Grabbing part of VR's armor, Mobius jumped out of the hatch and fluttered as slowly as he could to the ground below. It had taken them so long to get out of the wreckage that the fight was all but over. Weary Maverick Hunters stood in the streets, looking up at the blasted, smoking dinosaur tank. Dead bodies, human and reploid alike, nearly filled the street. Buildings and walkways were coated in blood, and smoke filled the air. Mobius said in a subdued voice, " What dark times we live in," VR nodded unconsciously. Some hunters were digging through the rubble of the building that had been blown apart by the tank's cannons, the building that the ambush had been executed at. VR and Mobius rushed over to the rubble and began searching for any signs of Drake.

Mobius began digging furiously with his large claws, shredding neocrete and titanium. VR warned him to be careful in case he cut into a survivor instead of debris. The large bat paid him no heed. Finally, after half an hour of searching, they found a large plate of metal that looked like part of an elevator. Mobius picked it up with ease and hurled it away. Underneath it, a green-clad reploid lay motionless, covered in dust. Mobius bent down to inspect him.

" He shut down. Probably internal system fracture from some kind of impact," He said with a laugh, " He'll be fine!" VR let out a huge sigh of relief. Suddenly, his commlink activated.

_This is a general announcement. A new IT satellite has been installed and is ready for recall _A cheer rose from the crowd of Maverick Hunters, and the announcement brought a smile to VR's lips.He turned to Mobius.

" I think the sun has finally risen, my friend,"

* * *

X awoke, he did not know how much later, in the medical ward. He was sealed inside a recovery capsule, since his injuries were relatively minor. The white hunter looked down at his right arm to find that it was in perfect condition once again. The capsule door slid open, and he sat up. The ward was close to empty, and the room was dark. His capsule had been set with an auto-release timer to awaken him when his injuries were repaired. He swung his legs over the side of the capsule, and a pins-and-needles feeling shot up them as he stood. Still, he hobbled over to the door to the intensive care ward.

Even inside the white walled corridors, it seemed to have calmed down. From time to time Lifesavers would walk through doors or pass him down the corridor, but other than that it was completely different from when he was there earlier in the day. He didn't know which room Calliope was held in, so he asked a Lifesaver. The reploid pointed him in the direction of the room, and soon enough X was in front of the door. Before he could turn the handle, a nurse reploid ran up to him.

" I'm sorry sir, you can't go in there," She said. X gave her a skeptical look.

" Why not?"

" Well, frankly sir, I don't think you'd want to go in," X fixed her with a deadly gaze.

" _Why not_?" He said more insistently. He tried to keep the panic from bleeding into his voice.

"...er, she's being operated on, sir. First, it would be a distraction to the Lifesavers, and second, she's being cut ope-"

" That's enough!" X silenced her. " I don't need to hear what they're doing to her in there,"

" This is a necessary procedure, sir. If we do not fix her skeleton, she cannot possibly live much longer,"

" I said that's enough!"

" But sir, you sounded like you didn't approve of the operation, so I was trying to explain it to you so-"

" Forget it," X turned and began walking down the hall, leaving the nurse to look questioningly at his back. Halfway back to the main medical ward, he realized that he had made a mistake in being so harsh on the nurse. Thinking back, he didn't know why he had gotten so angry. It seemed to come on him instantly; the need to lash out at something. It was the kind of thing a maverick would do. X shuddered as he continued down the hall.

When he walked into the main ward, he was greeted by a slap on the back. " X! What the hell are you doing here?" Drake said. X turned to see the green Maverick Hunter behind him.

" I could ask you the same thing,"

" Me? Hell, I'm always here. I'm not one of those super reploids like you are. I can't take much of a beating,"

" I'm here because a maverick crushed my arm," X turned and continued walking toward the exit. Drake kept pace behind him.

" I didn't think anything could break that white armor of yours," He said.

" Well, something did,"

" Musta been one helluva maverick,"

" No,"

" Then how'd he get to ya?"

" Dunno,"

"...the hell kinda answer is that?"

" Dunno,"

" What's up, X?"

" Dunno,"

" If you want me to shut up, then just freakin' tell me! Don't keep giving me the cold shoulder,"

" Alright then. Shut up,"

" Can I just ask you one thing?"

" No,"

" You sure?"

" I already told you to shut up! What else do you want me to do?"

" I want you to tell me what's bugging you,"

" Nothing's bugging me,"

" Come on. You know I'm not that stupid,"

" Then how stupid are you?"

" Quit changing the subject,"

"Why not!?" X whirled around and glared at Drake. " I don't want to talk. Is that clear with you? Can you leave me alone now?" Drake said nothing. X spun again and slammed his fist into the door lock. It hissed open and he stepped through, hitting the button again on the other side and closing the door. Drake did not move.

" What the hell are you thinking, X?" He muttered to himself. Then, he remembered about Calliope. " I guess he can't help it, then. If I were him, I'd probably be the same way,"

* * *

The previous night, X had gone straight to sleep after arguing with Drake. Now, he awoke, feeling worse than he ever had before. Something had possessed him the night before. He didn't know if it was the thought of Calliope being cut open and pulled apart like a machine. Then he reminded himself that she _was _a machine. Machine or not, she was a living, sentient being, and X couldn't imagine anything more horrible than to be taken apart like that.

Then, X thought it might have been a side-effect of shutting down. Before he could think any further, though, there was a knock on the door to his room. He got out of his bed and opened it, surprised to see Dr. Cain waiting on the other side. Without waiting for an invitation, Cain brushed past X and walked inside, sitting down on the edge of his bed.

" X, I heard from the Medical Ward this morning. Apparently you were in quite a foul mood last night," X raised an eyebrow. _Who, or why, would anybody mention that to Dr. Cain? _He thought. " I'm here to straighten some things out with you,"

" Did Drake tell you?" X asked.

" I can't say. X, you know about age modifiers, right?"

" A little bit,"

" You know that age modifiers are programs that set the rate for reploid maturity, since newly created reploids would be like helpless toddlers without it. You know that they are set at a constant rate, correct?"

" Yes,"

" Yours is set to four human years per year, and for the first year after you were activated, it was set to eight. By now that would make your mind..."

" Sixteen,"

" Correct. In a human body, you would be going through puberty right now. Since you aren't in a human body, Dr. Light somehow programmed you to feel the mental effects of puberty without any of the physical effects, as those are impossible. These mental effects include sudden anger, and occasional mood swings. Dr. Light was a genius, but even he could not accurately program these effects into you. As such, I suspect that last night's problem was due to a glitch in your program,"

" A glitch?"

" Yes. Though I can't be certain, as I wasn't there myself to see it and I'm ages past puberty myself, but your reaction certainly sounded like a glitch. These reactions aren't that instantaneous,"

" So...this phase changes the way humans think and act?"

" Yes, in many ways. I feel that I don't need to elaborate any more on this subject, and I'm sure you're eager to find out the result of last night's operation," X's heart jumped. _He knows about Calliope's operation too?_. Almost as if reading his mind, Cain said, " I pay closer attention to your life than you may think. To this day I think of you as one of my own children, and I try to look after you as best I can," X didn't know quite what to say. He settled with a simple 'thank you'. Dr. Cain smiled.

" I'll be sure to watch my temper from now on," He got up and headed for the door, leaving Dr. Cain to sit on the edge of X's bed, thinking, as he always was. Suddenly, Cain's personal communicator began to beep, startling the old man. He pulled it out of his pocket and turned on the screen.

_Dr. Cain, we know the location of the maverick's base! _Dr. Cain's eyes widened.

" What? How?"

_A transmission just came in. Whoever it was gave us the exact coordinates_

" Did you check the IFF frequency?"

_...Yes, sir_

" Who or what was it?"

_...er, we don't know_

" That's impossible. The HQ only accepts transmissions with IFF frequencies attached,"

_I know... er, there is an IFF frequency. But It's impossible_

" Start making sense, operator,"

_It's Commander Genoscythe's IFF_

_

* * *

_

As the white doors opened, X saw Calliope sitting upright in a white bed, a weak smile on her face. X could have died that instant and lived a happy afterlife. He rushed to the side of the bed, placing his hand over hers.

" I got a brand new skeleton," She said weakly. Tears began to form at the edge of her eyes.

" H-how..." He asked, trying hard not to start sobbing.

" I held on long enough...long enough for them to bend my energy conduit back into shape. They supplied me with energy, and kept me hooked up to an energy tank while they took apart my old skeleton and replaced it,"

" You...held on?"

" Yes. I would've died had I not thought of you, though. I had to see you again, and that was all I thought about, the only thing that kept me from losing..." X couldn't help it any longer, tears began streaming down his face. She held his head close to her, lacking the strength to cry.

* * *

" So, this is the kind of greeting I get, huh?" The tall reploid said, flexing his arm a bit, working in the new joint.

" Yes. I'm sorry this is on such short notice, but X has been fighting himself to death. I would feel better about it if you went,"

" Of course. Hell, you know I couldn't refuse a good fight,"

" Thank you for understanding,"

" I'm a Maverick Hunter, aren't I? I'm just doing my job,"

" But, you've been in stasis for so long, I thought you might..."

" Don't worry about it. I need to work into my new body anyway,"

" The coordinates are 0 longitude, 0 latitude, sir,"

" The North Pole, huh? You don't think the X Hunters threw in a jacket with this new body, do ya?"

" Don't worry, Zero. Your systems are completely cold-resistant,"

" I know, Dr. Cain. I see you still don't know how to take a joke,"

" Especially not one of yours,"

" As always..."

" As always,"

" Am I going solo?"

" No; You're just going in for a pre-emptive strike. The rest of the hunters will land directly after you,"

" As long as I still get plenty of mavs to fight,"

" Don't worry about it. Operator, bring the IT satellite up to full power,"

" Affirmative, sir,"

" I'm ready," The crimson hunter disappeared in a flash of light. Dr. Cain sighed. The X hunters had severely modified Zero's body, including the addition of a beam saber, but he still worried about him. No reploid could shake off six months of stasis instantly, but then again, Zero wasn't just any reploid. Only time would tell how the stasis would affect his system.

Minutes later, after the rest of the hunter team had been dispatched, X walked into the command center. " How's Zero's condition?" He asked Dr. Cain. The old man smiled at him.

" Zero is now penetrating the Maverick HQ," X's eyes widened.

" What!? How did you find it?"

" That's...not important," Cain said detachedly.

" Well, if Zero's there, then I'm going too!" X said as he spun about and headed for the door.

" Wait X, you can't!"

" That's right, he can't," A deep voice enveloped the room. A face had appeared on the large center monitor, a bald head with gleaming eyes and a red jewel set into its forehead.

" Sigma!!!" X yelled.

" Yes, X. You don't seem very surprised to see me. Did you miss me at all?" The deranged reploid cackled. " I'm anxious to see you again,"

" You monster! Where are you hiding?"

" Heeheeheehee, I'm not far. Just a little stroll into the city, and you're practically there! Look for a familiar building. I'll be waiting for you," The transmission suddenly cut. Without a word, X spun about and ran down the hall. Dr. Cain attempted to follow him, but he was far too fast to catch up to.

* * *

X knew exactly where Sigma was. He suspected that he had been there the whole time. After donning his combat armor, he programmed his IT receiver for the Central Control building. In moments, he was standing atop the roof of the building, staring at a pile of dead reploids. They were all Maverick Hunters from the 14th division, and they had been ripped to shreds. _These must be the hunters Dragoon sent to secure the building, _X thought. He walked to the door protruding from the roof, but before he was even close to it, it slid open. Looking around, buster drawn, he made sure the area was clear.

X began to descend the stairs, sweeping his buster around as he went. When he reached the bottom and kicked aside the busted door, he was in the main control room where he fought Magna Centipede. Wind whipped through the room from the magnificent hole in the wall across from X. He looked to the left to find the huge Central Computer, a giant pillar of metal and wires. Otherwise, the room was empty.

Suddenly, an incredible rumble began to spread cracks along the already decimated floor. X still felt no presence in the room. He did feel, however, the floor begin to give. He made a dash for the elevator, but didn't even get close before the floor crumbled away and he began falling into near-blackness. The only thing he could see as he fell was the giant pillar, descending down into the depths of the building.

After what felt like hours, X's feet slammed into neocrete, and the ground beneath him began to buckle. He was now at the base of the Central Computer, where the pillar widened and formed a large control panel where all the digital data in the city was stored. The room was fairly small and without doors; X had no idea how anyone was supposed to get in here without taking his route. Everything was silent, but now X felt a presence.

" Ah, X. So wonderful to see you again," A strangely melodic voice echoed from behind the large pillar.

" You sound more insane than ever, Sigma," X could see a glowing red beacon in the shadows behind the pillar.

" Don't I? Hmph, you're getting bolder, X. You were green when we last fought. Green and lucky,"

" I'm more powerful than you'll let yourself think. If you come out of hiding, I'll show you what I mean,"

" Where's the fun in that?"

" Be that way, coward," Now, X could see a pair of glowing orbs beneath the red light.

" I've been called many things before, X. Never a coward,"

" A miracle," X said while pacing back and forth in the midst of the room. He heard a dull scratching sound, and the orbs began to move. Soon, he could see a form emerge from the shadows, clinging to the wall with long, wicked claws.

" I never knew you were the violent type, X,"

" I hold pity for those doomed to die. For you I hold only hate," Sigma sighed.

" Such harsh words. I can already tell, this will be a good fight,"

End

A/N: Wow, that went fast! Two chapters out in such a short time. God I love summer =P


	26. Chapter 23: A War for the Ages

****

Megaman X2: Eternal War

Chapter 23: A War for the Ages

By Genoscythe

_sniff_ this is it folks. The last disclaimer ever...for this story =P (I wonder if this even counts as a disclaimer? I'm really not disclaiming anything. Oh well, technical mambo always makes my head hurt)

" Hmph. It's your choice, but I won't come along with you,"

" I never asked you. Rot here if you wish. I hear the Hunters getting closer by the second,"

" I still can't believe he would go back on his word..."

" He allies himself with the humans. What can you expect?"

" He will defeat you again,"

" What makes you so sure of that?"

" He is too powerful. Do you remember how he killed Violen?"

" That's part of the reason why I'm going after him again,"

" Petty revenge? I thought you were above that, Agile,"

" Nothing about revenge is petty, Serges. You had better leave before the Hunters disable the IT systems,"

" And go where?" Agile was silent. They stood in the midst of a massive loading bay. Mavericks scurried about, loading things into crates and preparing to leave while their brethren held back the Maverick Hunters in the base. They did not know where they were leaving _to_, but they were preparing in case a plan was formed.

" Either way, Megaman X will die. I'm leaving now," Serges made no reply. Suddenly, Agile disappeared in a brilliant flash of light. The base began to rock, and the old maverick moved to the large battle tank in the back of the hangar. If the Maverick Hunters wanted to retire them, they would not do so without casualties of their own...

* * *

Sigma wore a new thick yellow combat armor equipped with three long blades attached to each wrist. Now, he scratched these claws together, generating tongues of lightning that began to flick instantaneously into the air. He lunged at X, swiping his claws in a cross formation, leaving behind trails of electricity. X had lunged to the side, charging up his arm cannon, but Sigma was incredibly fast. He was already in front of him again, and this time the long claws raked across his chest and sent pins-and-needles through his body. He fired a shot, but the energy bolt flew through empty air, as Sigma was now gone.

X felt a strong grip on his head, and he was lifted into the air.

" Not putting up much of a fight, are you X?"

" Go to hell," X spat. Sigma grunted and flung the white hunter against the wall. The neocrete cracked and dust formed a huge cloud above X's head as he lay against the wall. A hand reached through the cloud and grabbed him by the waist. That hand flung him into the center of the room, and he sprawled on the floor.

Sigma lunged at him, but he fired a charged shot into the air where he predicted he would appear. Sure enough, the ball of energy collided with Sigma's chest and he staggered back. X jumped to his feet to find Sigma laughing.

" This body is far superior to the one Father made for me. Your strength hasn't increased much. Can you keep up?" The maverick leader's clawed fist flew at X, but he ducked and made a grab for his arm, intending to throw him. He was stopped by an overwhelming surge of electricity that connected to him when he touched Sigma's arm. He had no choice but to fall backward, for he couldn't stand. One of Sigma's claw arms retracted. He grabbed X and pulled him up to his own height. Then, he jumped into the wall, smashing X between his shoulder and the neocrete surface. Grabbing him by the head, he threw him into the opposite wall and jumped after him, once again crushing X.

X was then thrown to the ground, and Sigma fell on top, laying down a thunderous punch with the weight of gravity behind it. The maverick leader stepped back. X felt broken internally and externally. He heard a voice inside his head, but he ignored it until now. It said, **_Giga Crush power at 94%. Initiate before reaching 115% or meltdown will occur._**

" I can't believe you're still moving, X," Sigma said as X attempted to stand. Suddenly, the maverick rushed at X, kicking him into the wall and bringing both claws to bear. Three long metal blades sliced through X's armor and skin, tearing apart his insides until they cut through his back. Impaled on Sigma's right claw, X's vision began to blur. The only thing that seemed real to him was the constant warning. **_Giga Crush power at 113...114%. Initiate now before reaching meltdown. Initiate now before..._**

" Initiate...Giga Crush program..." X whispered. Sigma's gaze became quizzical, then angry for being interrupted in his moment of glory. **_Giga Crush attack activated. Armor program terminating..._**

X saw, through blurred eyes, a light brighter than the sun itself, he heard Sigma scream, felt the claws inside of him twist, then disintegrate. Before long, he couldn't even see Sigma due to the light. He still heard the screams, and he also heard explosions and creaking metal. He was vaguely aware that the building was falling apart around him.

* * *

Sigma was in the warm hands of victory. His enemy was skewered on his claws, and victory for the Purifier army was at hand. He had dreamt of this moment at least a thousand times, but he never thought it would be so glorious! Megaman X's blood ran freely down his arm and stained his armor red. The look on X's face, however, changed from one of horror to one of determination. _What could X possibly have left up his sleeve? _Sigma thought.

Then, his opponent began to mutter something. Sigma narrowed his eyes. Then, his claws began to feel a bit warm; not from the blood of his adversary, but from an inner heat. Then, X began to faintly glow. Sigma looked curiously at this change, but curiosity turned to terror as the glow exploded into a brilliant, searing wave of pain. Sigma felt his arm being torn apart molecule by molecule, until it completely disappeared. He screamed as his armor blew away like hot butter in a gale. He saw the building's walls explode outward, and for a moment he glimpsed the outside before the rest of the building began to fall down on top of them.

He could no longer see X; he was at the epicenter of the pain and heat, where it was blindingly bright. As if the searing pain of the energy wave wasn't enough, pieces of the ceiling began to fall on him. Normally, debris wouldn't even dent his armor, but his armor was now blasted apart and his metal skeleton was laid bare. While he was being blown away by the intense energy, a massive chunk of the Central Computer landed on him, totally and completely destroying his weakened skeletal frame.

Sigma died instantly under the weight of the computer piece. Still, the Giga Crush attack lasted for another thirty seconds as the building crumbled and fell apart.

* * *

When X awoke from his daze, he was sitting in the middle of a burnt-out husk of a building. Immediately, his hands flew to where he had been stabbed, but he felt no trace of the wound. He was surprised to find, however, that his armor was the normal azure color. Somehow during the Giga Crush, his armor data must have been used to fuel the attack. He looked about to be sure if he knew where he was.

Surely enough, there were large pieces of what looked like the Central Computer's processing column scattered about on the burnt floor. He guessed he was on a massive pile of debris, since the floor was so unstable and it began to slope downward near the walls. He looked over the ruined walls themselves to get a look at the scenery. What looked like the top half of Central Control lay like a destroyed monument on the fields of ash outside what was left of the building. X grabbed a hold of the lip of the wall in front of him and hoisted himself up on it. It looked like he was only on the third story; he must have fallen several levels to get there.

Despite having nearly been killed, X felt completely refreshed. He jumped from the wall, landing fairly easily on the ash-covered ground. A third-story jump was nothing for a reploid built to withstand harsh impacts like that. He stood and looked up at the burnt-out ground floors. The mere thought that X had done so much destruction brought a shiver down his spine. As he looked, debris was still falling from the sky. One of the bits of debris was moving faster than the others, and seemed to be growing larger by the second.

X's eyes widened. He jumped out of the way as Agile plummeted to the ground where he was just standing. The maverick had buried his sword where X should have been, so he just left it there as he stood up. His armor was badly scratched and charred, and his left arm looked ready to fall off. He glared daggers at X.

" You!" He seethed. " I should have beaten you minutes ago! No, you had to blow up and ruin everything for me!" X looked skeptically at him.

" You expect me to just let you kill me!?"

" I expected to use my new armor to crush you, but now everything's ruined! My armor is totaled, your white armor is gone, and now I have to fight you with only 25% power!"

" Poor baby. You still want to fight me even though Sigma is dead?" X leered at him. " Or are you going to run away again?"

" There's nowhere to run to!" Agile spat. " Quick! End my misery!" He pulled the sword out of the ground and lunged, swiping at X. X dodged the weak slash and grabbed Agile's left arm and pulled, easily separating it from its socket. Agile wailed in pain, and turned around. X held onto the maverick's arm, and when Agile struck again, he used it to parry his blows.

The maverick roared. He charged again, this time X knocked the sword out of his hands. With one fluid motion, he brought his buster up to Agile's face and fired a shot he had been charging while they talked. It blasted Agile back into the ash-covered debris, but in an instant he got up again. There was nothing left of his face but a gruesome skull-like metal frame; the rest had been blown away by his charged shot.

" Hm...not so powerful now that your armor is gone, are you?" Agile's voice now sounded tinny and raspy. His metal jaw did not match the words he spoke.

" I'm powerful enough to destroy you," X said, charging up energy into his buster. Agile leapt at him. When he was arm's length away, X grabbed the maverick by the neck and held his buster up to his chest. Agile let out a low growl before X fired and his chest caved in. The purple maverick crumpled to the ground, and something like a monstrous howl emanated from its voice box. Then, what was left of Agile exploded, but it was nothing like the explosion that had just consumed the Central Control, and X was relatively unharmed.

He teleported back to Hunter HQ immediately to get an update on the situation.

* * *

The hangar doors exploded outward, metal curling outward like a blooming flower. A crimson hunter ran into the room, tearing through mavericks with a bright green beam saber. Other hunters followed him, raining all manner of weapons down on the fleeing mavericks. Serges scrambled up the sides of the tall battle tank and climbed into the small cockpit. He brought the weapon to life and began to aim its multiple turrets at the intruding Maverick Hunters. He pressed his hand down on the fire button and didn't stop as giant plasma blasts burnt through the hunters' numbers.

All the while, the wondered why Megaman X had gone back on their deal. _I fulfilled my end of the bargain! I even gave them Zero's parts! I thought Megaman X was an honorable reploid, but I must be mistaken. _The crimson hunter Serges recognized as Zero ran through the center of the hangar, firing his buster and swinging his beam saber in tandem. _Could it be all Zero's doing? No...if X were half the reploid I'd heard of, he would have stopped Zero. _Serges noticed a long-range commlink built into the battle tank, and he decided that if he were to die, he should at least know why.

* * *

" X! Thank God you're alive! We felt a quake; what happened?" X appeared back in the command center of Hunter HQ. Dr. Cain immediately walked up to him and began assaulting him with questions. However, they were interrupted suddenly.

" Dr. Cain! I'm getting a communication,"

" Who is it?"

"...someone named Serges, sir," _Serges! _X completely forgot about the maverick he had struck a deal with. Now, that maverick was under attack by the very thing he promised wouldn't happen. A lump began to catch in X's throat.

"...connect it," He said softly. The operator pressed some buttons, and Serges's face appeared, looking worn and frightened.

_Megaman X! You liar! You promised I would be safe from you Maverick Hunters! _Every head in the command center turned to X, standing in the center of it all.

" I...I didn't think that..."

_I heard you were an honorable reploid, X! _X looked about frantically. Then, he looked to Dr. Cain.

" Call them off," He said.

" What!?"

" Tell the Maverick Hunters there to stop attacking,"

" X...I can't. It's too late, they've already begun fighting,"

" Well they can stop fighting, can't they?!" X yelled. " We can reach a truce or something, can't we? Is it really so hard to give peace a chance?"

"...if you can talk Zero into it," X nodded and set his comm frequency. Suddenly, the main screen turned to static. On the frequency, X heard a large explosion and a scream of pain. He heard the battle rage on in the background.

_X? This is Zero, what do ya need?_

" Zero...what just happened?"

* * *

Zero ran at the large battle tank firing at the Maverick Hunters, intent on its destruction. Ignoring the other mavericks around him, he focused solely on the battle tank. Hunters were getting mowed down by it, and he wanted to stem the flow of casualties as best he could. Besides, he wanted to test the limits of his new beam saber.

He ran and slashed at the base of the tank, cutting through it in one clean swipe. The tank toppled over and the upper portion landed on an energy tank, causing the tank to explode. The resulting explosion disintegrated the tank, but he thought he heard a weak scream from the dying blue flames. He noticed that his commlink was on. X was trying to contact him.

" X? This is Zero, what do ya need?"

_Zero...what just happened?_

" I'm just taking care of the last maverick opposition at their base. There was a battle tank taking down our hunters, so I destroyed it,"

_That's what happened just now?_

" Yeah...hey X, you sound kinda spooked,"

_Do you know who was piloting that battle tank?_

" No, does it really matter?"

_Yes, it does...never mind, Zero. Hurry up and end this war_

" I'm working' on it," Zero replied. X shut off the commlink. The crimson hunter sighed and continued to cut down mavericks.

* * *

Hours later, the victorious Maverick Hunter group returned from the Maverick HQ. The entire island was sunk thanks to the 6th division. As happy as X was that his friend was back, his conscience was still nagging him at the back of his mind, nagging him about Serges. _You could've prevented this. You could've saved his life. That's what you want to do, right? Stop the killing?_

He found both Zero and Drake chatting among the group of recently-teleported hunters, and he joined their group. Zero began to show off his new equipment to them. His shoulder armor had been thickened and his entire body strengthened. He also now carried a beam saber on his back; an addition the X Hunters had made, hoping to use it against their prey.

X leaned back during their conversation and felt something warm and shapely pressing against his back. A pair of slender arms wrapped around his waist and weakly hugged him. Just from the shape of the body behind him, he could tell who it was. " Calliope," He whispered behind his back.

" The doctor said I can move again. He said to be careful not to stress my new joints though; I guess my systems are still integrating with my new frame,"

" We did it," He said, turning around and fully detaching himself from the other conversation. " The war is over, and we can stop killing now,"

" Are you so sure, X?" A voice came from behind him. He craned his neck back to see the others staring at the two embraced Maverick Hunters. " You've gotta remember, we killed Sigma once already. He could easily appear again. And just because we've crushed the mavericks' means of opposition doesn't mean there won't be more. This is an eternal war, X. Are you gonna fight it with us or not?" The voice belonged to Zero. X looked back to Calliope, at her deep blue eyes. He couldn't imagine killing another reploid at this moment. He let go of Calliope and turned to face Zero.

" I'm not a killer like you, Zero. This isn't my war,"

" A killer, huh? How many reploids have you killed, X? You've killed tons more mavericks than I have,"

" And I regret every one of them!" X said loudly. Zero looked down at the floor.

" You've changed on me, X. You know as well as I do that none of us here are killers. We're warriors, plain and simple. The mavericks are the killers," X's eyes softened.

" You're right, Zero. Hell, you're always right," The azure hunter scratched his head and shifted his weight. " Look everyone, I've been thinking about something for a long time," He waited until he had everyone's attention before continuing. " I'm going to quit the Maverick Hunters," Every single one of the hunters around him gasped, their eyes wide. " If I'm not a killer, then I'm not a warrior either. Ever since...the incident with Violen the X Hunter, I've been questioning my actions. My thoughts are becoming too confusing to sort out, and living on a battlefield has only made it worse,"

" X...you can't..." Zero said softly.

" I never said this is permanent. It might be, but for now this is only a temporary reprieve,"

" You're the number one reason I haven't split outta here yet!" Drake protested. " You ARE the Maverick Hunters!"

" Look, I just don't wanna flip out and start killing people!" X yelled. " For all I know, I may have the Maverick Virus!" If his friends were surprised before, now they were astonished. X turned around. " Could you all stop making this harder on me? I just need to find a peaceful place to stay for awhile," They were all silent. He laid his hand on Calliope's shoulder, and she stepped aside. He began tunneling through the crowd of hunters to the elevator. He punched in the number of the 17th Division's floor, and when he arrived, he immediately set off to his room.

After entering and closing the door, he began packing all his belongings in the carrying packs he had borrowed before things had gone to hell in the morning. It didn't take long for him to pack all he needed; he was very short on personal belongings. He left the wooden dresser that Dr. Cain had given him in case the old doctor might need it. As he opened the door, however, a figure stood before him. It was Calliope.

" Please don't make this harder for me..." He began, but she cut him off.

" I'm not trying to change your decision. What you want to do with your life is your own choice, but I want to be a part of what you're going to do. Will you give me that privilege?" X chuckled.

" I never said none of you would ever see me again, Cal. This isn't that serious," She smiled.

" That's good to hear. Where are you going, by the way?" She inquired innocently. X cast her a sly smirk.

" Would you like to see for yourself?"

" I would love to,"

" Then come on," X picked up his carrying packs and they went to the elevator. As soon as X pressed the button, though, a shortline commlink message came through to him. He could hear Dr. Cain's frantic voice on the other side of the link.

_X! There are government agents here demanding to take you into custody!_

" What!?" X said incredulously into the commlink.

_They say they are following up on an earlier investigation that took place before the mavericks attacked the city. You don't think this is about the Violen incident, do you?_

" That must be what they're doing. They're following up on those murder accusations,"

_Anyway, you find some place to hide. I'll tell them that you've discharged from the service_

"...Dr. Cain, I _am _discharging from the service," X realized he should have mentioned it sooner, but the day's events had swept him away into chaos before he could.

_WHAT!?!?! _The reply could not have sounded more astonished.

" I know I should have explained sooner, but there isn't time for that if the agents are already here. I'll call you in a few hours, okay?"

_X...you aren't serious, are you?_

" Like I said, I'll call you and tell you the full story. Just keep those agents occupied," There was no reply from the other side of the link. As they had talked, X and Calliope stepped into the elevator and by the time the conversation was over, the two reploids were putting X's belongings onto a jeep. When everything was loaded on, they both jumped into the seats. X powered up the engine and they were out in the wasteland in moments. X clued Calliope in on what was happening back at HQ. She looked incredulously at X the entire time.

" I can't believe the government would double-cross Dr. Cain like that. Maverick Hunter affairs are supposed to be controlled by him, right?"

" Right. I'll bet they made up some half-assed excuse as to why they want me taken," Calliope sighed and laid her head back against the seat, letting the wind from the open roof whip her hair about. They traveled on for about an hour or two when the female reploid noticed something different about the landscape. Here and there, patches of..._green_ were scattered amongst the browns of the dirt.

Soon, the green began to close in on them until they were immersed in it. The ground was covered in grass, and soon enough, they were driving between rows of tall trees, unhampered by technological devices. The road they were on was an ancient concrete one with only two lanes and yellow stripes separating them. At the sides of the road, small animals would occasionally scurry along with the jeep before they gave up and scrambled back into the brush.

At the end of the long winding road they were on, there was a small wooden house. By their standards, it looked incredibly ancient, even older than the street. X beamed at Calliope. She just stared at him in disbelief. " This is that forest you told me about so long ago..."

" Yeah," X said. " We also found this abandoned house on our recon, but I didn't tell you about it so I could surprise you,"

" So...this is where you're going to be living?"

" Yep. This place already makes me feel more relaxed,"

"...does it have..."

" Furniture? Yeah, it's also got a heater, electricity, and a wireless phone,"

" So this place isn't as old as it looks?"

" Definitely. Or somebody made it more livable," Calliope sighed and laid back in the seat of the jeep.

" Well, it looks perfect for you," She said. He nodded. They got out of the vehicle and began to take X's belongings into the house. Opening the wooden door softly, they could see better into the cozy living room. A couch, coffee table, and antique television were all aligned in the middle, with empty shelves lining the walls and an open kitchen. A door into the other room, the bedroom, was open. All of X's items were stacked on the couch, and Calliope made a quick sweep of the small house, making sure everything was in order.

They walked back outside, and Calliope whirled about to face X, brown hair streaking down her face. " I have to go back to HQ. I'm still a Maverick Hunter,"

" I know," X said softly. " Come back soon, okay?"

" The same to you," He swept her to him and they embraced in a passionate kiss. After moments that stretched to eternity, their lips parted, but Calliope stayed in his arms.

" I love you," X whispered to her.

" Come back soon, Rock. I can't live too long without you,"

" Don't worry," He chuckled. " You think this is any easier on me?" He took her by the hand and led her to the jeep. Opening the door, she stepped inside and he let go of her hand. She smiled and put her hand on the ignition panel. The panel read her dataprint, and the machine jolted to life. She bent down and gave him one last kiss.

" I'll see you soon," She said.

" See you then," X replied, letting go of the door and standing back. The jeep lurched into motion, rolling slowly down the path. Calliope looked back and waved at X before the jeep sped up and she disappeared around a corner. X looked up into the sky. Clouds were shifting among a sea of blue, and for once X could see the sun. He couldn't remember the last time the sun felt so good.

End

A/N: Don't forget about this story yet! There's a meaty epilogue on the way, so check back soon. Please review since this is the last real chapter, let me know how I did overall/any other comments you might have. If you think the ending sucks, then I apologize in advance. If you think the entire story sucks, then same thing. If you think **everything** sucks...then you've probably got issues. See y'all later (and don't forget about the epilogue!)


	27. Epilogue

****

Megaman X2: Eternal War

Epilogue

By Genoscythe

Megaman X sat at the edge of his bed, clutching the small video screen. Twilight spilled an orange glow through the window of his small house in the forest, and it certainly didn't help X's mood. A reploid clad in red armor was talking on the portable video screen.

" I'm serious, X. We need you back here, _now_," X said nothing. His mind was too busy churning the current events over, trying to sort out the mess that this situation was turning into. In the background of the video screen, red warning lights were flashing and an announcement was being broadcast.

Alert! Alert! The Doppler research reploid has inspired a revolt in DopplerTown. The Maverick virus has broken through the Doppler anti-virus, and it appears Doppler has caused it. All previous postings here about the anti-virus are incorrect. The anti-virus is a placebo. REPEAT: The anti-virus is a placebo!  
DopplerTown is over-run with Mavericks. Utopia has ended before it even started. Take cover quickly. Virus is spreading rapidly. Cain Laboratory is being infiltrated. Maverick Hunter Units on FULL ALERT.

" There's no way Doppler would do it...I mean, I met him in person, Zero!" X protested finally. " This must be a mistake..."

" The only mistake anyone's made was to trust Dr. Doppler with our lives. And besides, don't you think it's about time you quit hiding?"

" Hiding!?" X spat back at his friend on the video screen.

" That's exactly what you've been doing. You don't want to have blood on your hands anymore, but running off to the forest isn't gonna wash away the stains you've already made,"

" Zero...I thought you were with me on this,"

" You said it yourself that you were coming back, am I right? So come back. Help us defeat Doppler, or else bear the burden of all the innocents you could've saved by fighting!"

" I...don't want to argue anymore, Zero. I don't want to kill anymore, either. Goodbye," X moved to switch off the screen.

" Wait!" Zero was cut off as the image died. X threw the communicator against the wall and buried his head in his hands. He was faced with two choices. Either become a killer again and save innocent lives, or continue his life of pacifism and let the other Maverick Hunters deal with Dr. Doppler's rebellion. As much as he thought about it, his mind kept coming back to the same conclusion. He would have to fight.

Sighing in resignation, X opened his closet and pulled out his old uniform and armor. He changed quickly and, tapping the commlink on his helmet, called MHHQ. " This is Megaman X, Commander of the 17th Maverick Hunter Division. I need an IT"

_X? You're coming back!? Ah, uh...yes, right away, sir,_ The operator said excitedly. X activated the IT crystal on his helmet and he soon felt himself being ripped through space and dropped into the control room of Maverick Hunter HQ. Everything was chaotic. Outbreak monitors were being overrun with red dots, operators shouting to each other, and hunters running in and out. X walked to the nearest operator and tapped him on the shoulder.

" Where can I find Zero?" He asked above the noise. The operator tracked his position in the HQ and pointed it out to him. He wasted no time in running to the main lobby, where he was greeted with a welcome image. Calliope, Drake, Mobius, VR, and Zero all stood talking in the center of the large room. X ran down the stairs as he waved to them, and Drake spotted him. As soon as his feet touched the bottom of the steps, Calliope's arms were flung around his neck and she hugged him closely.

The others crowded around X, and he was assaulted with questions and comments. When they all calmed down, Zero spoke. " You couldn't have come at a better time. I'm getting tired of keeping your little runts under control,"

" Zero's been the unofficial commander of the 17th since you left. Dr. Cain let it slide since maverick activity's been slow," Calliope explained.

" Until now," Drake said. " Goddamn it, why did we trust Dr. Doppler!?" The green hunter clenched his fist.

" He was so sincere...there was no way we could have known," X muttered.

" Now the HQ's mainframe is infected with the virus. We have no way to find Doppler's base without our main equipment running," Zero spoke.

" At least we have our IT and warning systems running," VR said. Just then, X got a call on his commlink. Zero received one as well.

_All commanders, your divisions have already been given individual assignments. You will receive coordinates to IT to momentarily._

Zero and X both downloaded their coordinates, and X looked at the other hunters around him. " Aren't you all supposed to be on assignment?"

Calliope sighed." Supposed to be. Zero stopped us on our way out, so we haven't gotten the chance to leave," Suddenly, a warning light blared to life and the warning announcement changed suddenly.

_ALL MAVERICK HUNTERS MUST DEPLOY TO THE CITY! OUTPOST BETA IS UNDER ATTACK! REPEAT: OUTPOST BETA IS UNDER ATTACK! HOSTILE UNITS BEAR THE DOPPLER INSIGNIA! PURSUE WITH CAUTION!_

The voice was frantic and loud. The group of hunters looked to each other. A new battle was beginning, and as Zero had said two years before, this was an eternal war.

END

A/N: Yep, this is it. I know it was short, but all I wanted to do was show Megaman X's return. I'm NOT going to remake Megaman X3 as I previously thought. Believe me, I want to, but there are other projects that I'm working on now, and honestly all of my creative juices are being put to use. Does this mean you won't see any more works from me? Hell no. One of these 'other projects' just happens to be a brand new Megaman X 'fic that I'm five chapters into already. Now that I've got THIS monkey off my back (still can't get rid of the fleas though) I can put more attention to my next story, which I'll post on very shortly. It's called Megaman X: Elysium Rising, and by the time many of you read this it'll probably already be out there.

Well, it's been fun writing this stuff. That's why I'm gonna write more of it =P. So, uh...have fun, enjoy the rest of summer, and watch for Elysium Rising.

PS: That little announcement at the beginning of the chapter? That came straight from the Megaman X3 instruction manual. Big kudos to the Megaman Network for posting such random and seemingly irrelevant pieces of info on their site. They make finding all the resources I need (IE maverick backgrounds, hunter divisions, etc) immeasurably easier.


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